Alchemistic Dream
by MonMinou
Summary: Elena Phan has never watched Brotherhood. She only saw some episodes of the first FMA series. However, she suddenly finds herself trapped in the world of Brotherhood. Despite that, she thinks it's all a fever dream from her cold. But little by little, she's proven that it's not at all a dream, but a harsh reality...
1. Chapter 1

_**Updated as of 6/12/16 ~ cleaned up some notable errors and added some more details at the ending.**_

 **A/N: Hi, guys! So this is my first FMAB fanfic I've ever written. I've been a fan of it for years, and I'm excited to post this chapter! c:**

 **Tbh, I was weary of writing this out, despite my excitement. I was unsure of how I would write it. But I was inspired by some other FMAB fanfics out there. I was inspired to write something like this.**

 **FYI: The OC in this story is, in fact, an OC and not a self-insert. Yep, she's a character I've made fresh for specifically this story. She's actually pretty new, and I am still figuring out how exactly to develop her ;w; As a result, the intro I've written is actually quite lengthy… I do apologize, but I hope y'all like it nonetheless. I wanted to develop her a bit as to get an idea for not only myself, but for you as my reader to understand as well. I hope she stands out as a good OC, and not a Mary-Sue haha**

 **Also, shoutout to** _ **a Mysterious Illusion**_ **! Not only did her fanfic (Fullmetal Adventure) inspired me to write this, but she had offered me so much help in developing my character and this chapter! I couldn't have done it without her! PS: Read her Fullmetal Adventure fanfic right after this one! It's one of the best!**

 **And without further ado… Yeah, just read on haha.**

 _Please, please, please answer…_ a thought went through her head as sixteen-year-old Elena pressed her friend's contact name on her phone. She watched as her phone dialed her friend, Mack's, phone number. A couple seconds later, she heard the buzzing sound of the phone from her earbuds.

Elena had planned on going over to Mack's house a couple days ago. The weather, although as cold as a typical winter day would be, was nice and sunny enough to make her in a mood to get out of her house. They both had quite a handful of activities planned out. But sadly, Elena was dreadfully ill. Her throat was constantly feeling as dry as a desert, her coughs were rough and harsh, a fever plagued her forehead, and her nose was both stuffy and runny. All in all, she felt way too fatigued to do anything today. She thought that the cold wouldn't turn out to be that bad; she was wrong.

Now, she was bundled up under her favorite blanket. A box of tissues and a glass of water was on top of a dresser next to her bed. Her mom had made her drink some medicine a few minutes ago. It was the kind that would make her pass out asleep in a couple minutes. Elena usually didn't like sleeping during the daytime, but her sore throat and stuffy nose had kept her up nearly the entire night.

A hoarse cough escaped Elena's mouth. Suddenly feeling her throat sting, she slowly reached out to her right and grasped the glass of water that was standing on the dresser next to her bed. She chugged a sip of water down, instantly feeling her dry throat gaining some sort of moisture. But knowing the kind of condition she's in, it would probably last for only a couple minutes. Talking would make the moisture dry up even quicker, she realized as she held her phone with her left hand.

Some drops of water dripped out from the glass, lightly splattering over the corner of her bed's lavender-colored bed sheet. A whispered cuss escaped her lips as she slowly placed the glass of water back to its spot, realizing that the stain would take a bit long to completely dry up.

"Hello? Elee?" Elena heard Mack speak from her earbuds, his voice sounding slightly deep pitched as usual. He called her by a nickname that she wasn't really a big fan of, but at the same didn't mind. It just made her feel a bit embarrassed at times, particularly because that nickname made her feel like she was five again. As a result, she only let a few close people call her that, Mack being one of them.

"Mack?" Elena replied weakly. Well… More like rasped.

"Ooooh…" Mack winced upon hearing her voice. Elena could practically imagine the boy making a pained expression as he winced; one eye painfully clenched shut, and the other slightly open, followed by a minuscule frown. His expressions were very expressive, to say the least.

Mack continued, "So I take that the cold you were suspecting came out a lot worse."

Elena sniffled, sighed, and admitted with a nod, "Yeah, I guess you could say that…"

"See? That's why you should've worn a thicker coat that day. Not just that bomber jacket on top of your thin sweater!" Mack chided on the phone like how a parent would.

"Mack, oh my gosh," Elena said with a exasperated expression. She thought back to the time when she was wearing her favorite grey bomber jacket instead of one of her thicker coats. That bomber jacket - along with some hoodies, scarves, white sneakers,and pullover sweaters - were basically her signature outfits. Her favorite ones to wear, especially in the season of autumn. This year's autumn was chillier than expected. "You sound like my mother!"

Mack chuckled. "Did she actually tell you that?"

"Well…" Elena responded, twisting the white wires of her earbuds with a finger, "Not yet, at least." She sighed yet again. "Anyways, I didn't know it'll be that cold on that day! It said that the weather would be nice enough!"

"Oh, Elee… You do know that weather channel thing on your phone isn't as great as mine's," Mack bragged.

Elena rolled her eyes, "I was running out of time at that moment. My classes had me studying until one in the morning, and I overslept."

She leaned back on a pillow cladded in the sheet with same matching color as her bed sheet. It was her first year taking an AP class. She was expecting it to be harder than the two honors classes she took last year; After all, they are college-level classes. But she wasn't expecting it to be _that_ harsh. Before she knew it, she got bombarded by a bunch of reading and essays to do within just a couple weeks. She was already running on about five hours of sleep, an amount she'd expect to get at around January.

As she sink back, she continued, "Speaking of classes, I actually kind of hope that I'll feel a little bit better by Monday. I have so much to do in those classes."

Mack just snorted.

Mack was a grade above Elena's; A senior. He's a willing STEM student who's focused on majoring somewhere in the fields of life science. Elena has especially witnessed firsthand his dedication to chemistry and biology.

Elena was about to reply, "Thanks," when suddenly, she started coughing harshly. One cough after the other. She coughed for a straight ten seconds.

"You don't sound good," Elena heard Mack comment. She couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or serious.

"You don't say, Ma-" Elena started off, but another chain of rigid coughs interrupted her yet again. Each cough sounded harsher and louder as she went on for another fifteen seconds.

By the time she was done, she was breathing in deep breaths, her chest heaving in and out heavily. It was even more difficult for her to breath due to her nose being extremely stuffy, so she relied on breathing through her open mouth. Her stomach lightly ached from all of the coughing. Overall, she felt fatigued.

She heard Mack chuckling a bit as he responded, "Poor you."

She took a swig of her water, careful to avoid water spills whilst doing it, and said, "Lucky you. You aren't sick. Your nose isn't stuffy, and your throat isn't scratchy."

"Meh, I'd rather be sick just to avoid school for a couple days," Mack said.

"Same, but once again, I'd rather not for now…" Elena placed a hand on her forehead. She felt the warmth from the fever. "It's only the fifth week of school and I'm already sick and stressing out about work."

"Junior year, am I right," Mack agreed, "Anyways, I guess all those plans we made up is gone to waste this weekend." Elena could practically imagine him frowning as he said those words.

She found herself weakly frowning as she said, "I know, right? I was really looking forward to it as well. It was going to be a fun day."

"Didn't you even write down all of your plans down in the Notes? On your phone?" Mack asked.

"Hmm? Did I…?" Elena thought back for a couple seconds. Mack knew that she could be forgetful at times. He truly was a good friend.

She then remembered her and Mack sitting together in their history class a few days back. Their teacher was absent due to having a large blood test. During that time with a substitute teacher, they sat together side by side, enthusiastically coming up with different plans to do. It wasn't a lot, but to them, it was a pretty good start. To them, it was a handful. They both knew that they like to be organized with their plans.

"Oh yeah, we did!" she exclaimed, her voice growing high pitched. She ended up coughing harshly for a few seconds. Then, she tapped the home button on her phone and pressed on the Notes app.

"I can't believe you forgot about that for a couple seconds!" Mack exclaimed with a soft giggle.

"You know how forgetful I am," Elena replied as she was looking through the folders on her notes. She was squinting a bit while doing so, not feeling in a mood to slap on her glasses, despite them just sitting on top of the dresser. Sadly, her eyesight wasn't the best.

She clicked on the one that said "Ideas" and then the note that was labeled as "Plans."

"Found it!" she chirped with her slightly raspy voice as she skimmed through the small list. "Let's see… We wrote down plans to go to the mall." She thought back to the one time they went shopping. During a hazy summer day, they decided to shop for merchandise and games. They ended up spending nearly five hours at the mall, and nearly both thought it was fun but time consuming at the time, especially since they spend about an hour to eat.

"Remember that last time we went shopping, though?" Elena asked. "During the summer? That took up _way too much_ time! We could've spent about three hours there. We're _both_ slow shoppers."

"Ahahaha…" Mack nervously giggled, "I guess that's true. My mom was kind of upset at that. We'll save that for another day."

"Let's see…" Elena looked at the list. "We wrote down that we'd bake something together."

Mack was the only guy Elena knew that loved cooking. She assumed that he got it from his mother, who works as an assistant chef in a restaurant. Mack's mom makes the best desserts and pasta that Elena has ever taste. Her favorite was his mom's homemade macaroni and cheese. Their cooking skills were one of the many reasons why Elena enjoyed visiting Mack's place.

"That wouldn't be bad, actually," Mack said slowly in a thoughtful tone, "I mean, we've baked cupcakes before. We could always try something new if my mom could help us out."

"Yeah. Something I'm down for. I _really_ need to restock on some sweets," Elena nodded. She went through what was next on the list. "We also said that we would watch an anime." She took in a deep breath through her mouth as she continued, "Let me guess. Fullmetal Alchemist."

"Wow! You know me _so well!_ " Mack exaggerated a sarcastic surprised gasp, "Oh man, _how_ did you _know_?"

"Oh, I don't know…" Elena went along, "Maybe it's from the _fact_ that you drew me _two_ transmutation circles the other day!" She glanced at the dresser that was to her right. The paper that had the two circles was lying near the edges of the dresser. She won't be surprised if the drawing fell to the ground.

"You still have that?" Mack asked, this time actually sounding surprised.

"Yeah," Elena answered as she nodded, "I like it."

She noticed a twinge of drowsiness growing deep inside of her. Her eyelids were getting heavy. Any minute, and she'd suddenly just fall asleep.

 _Not now…_ she begged herself. She didn't want to nap now. She didn't even like napping. She wanted to talk to Mack more.

"Thanks! I tried! Anyways, are you still watching the 2003 series?" Mack asked.

"The first version, right?" Elena blinked a couple times. "Yeah, I left off somewhere there. And actually…" Elena dropped her voice in a whisper as she admitted, "I haven't watched it for about a month."

"Really?"

"Yeah…" Elena giggled nervously, "I may need to start all over, if anything. But I believe I remember what was going on."

Elena thought back deeply, her brows furrowing a bit, "I believe… It was at that part where Ed just learned that the mysterious boy with long hair has his arm. That boy that they found on that island."

"Oh yeah! That part was dramatic!" Mack gasped, "It gets pretty good after that! I hope you can watch more! I can't wait until you start watching Brotherhood, though!"

"Brotherhood…" Elena mused out loud, pronouncing the word slowly. "I've heard from a lot of people that Brotherhood is better… Is that true?"

"Well… I would say it's open for interpretation," Mack answered, "A lot of people prefer Brotherhood over the first series, and I could see why. Brotherhood is better animated, and the plot is better. Meanwhile, the first series has a better range of emotions from funniness to sadness. And the movie after it is good, too."

"Ah, is that so? I'll keep that in mind then. Meanwhile… Which one do you prefer?" Elena asked.

"Hmm... I like them both, but I've watched Brotherhood more than the original. Not gonna lie, it's kinda hard getting back to watching the original after seeing Brotherhood," Mack answered honestly.

"Ok then…" A yawn escaped Elena's lips as she stretched out. "That medicine my mom made me take is getting to me."

"Is it that one medicine that makes you drowsy?"

"Yes, it is." She wanted to remark something sarcastic, but she was getting too sleepy to even do that. Her tiredness intensified. The warmth of the blanket, along with the heat being on, made her even more tired. Not to mention, her room was kind of dark, as the shades were half closed.

She was comfortable. Perhaps _too_ comfortable.

 _I need to sleep…_ Elena thought in defeat. She sighed, closing her eyes for a bit. She struggled as she opened her eyes, her eyelids becoming heavier from closing them. _This medicine is_ killing _me._

"Well, I hate to admit it," Elena draped the blanket over her as she continued, "But I'm gonna go take a nap." She curled up a bit, feeling the welcoming warmth under her blanket.

Mack giggled. "Good. It's about time you give in to naps."

"Oh, hush!" Elena playfully snapped back.

"'Oh, hush!'" Mack imitated Elena's voice in a exasperated high-pitched voice. "Y'know, you've been saying that a lot…"

"Hahaha, I guess so." Elena yawned again. She wanted to retort something something, but she wasn't feeling it. "Bye, Mack."

"Goodbye, Ele-" Elena had pressed the red hang-up button, only to realize that she did so too early.

"Oh shit…" Elena muttered, mentally facepalming herself. It was probably her sixth time doing that to him. Hanging up early was one habit of hers. No one had ever pointed that out, but she was sure that they knew. She was getting that feeling of awkwardness she usually got after doing that, and suddenly felt a bit bad for hanging up on Mack. She was sure that he won't mind, and would even understand that she was super sleepy by now, due to the medicine. Mack is a pretty nice guy.

 _Sorry, Mack._ Elena thought as she set the phone down on her bed. She would have placed it on the dresser, but she didn't want to place it next to the glass of water.

She then heard a thin sound of crumpling paper. She looked to her left and saw that Mack's drawings were on the ground.

 _I knew that would happen…_ she thought to herself as she walked towards the paper. She bent down and grasped it with one hand. Then, she held it close - quite close to her face since she isn't wearing her glasses - to look at what exactly Mack has drawn for her.

 _Mack sure is good at drawing…_ Elena thought as she scrutinized the drawing. _Is there something he_ can't _do?_

The transmutation circle Mack had drawn for her was quite elaborate; The circle contained many shapes, lines, and symbols. And it had taken him about half an hour to draw it on a piece of paper.

On the bottom of the circle, Mack had labeled it as "Human Transmutation Circle" with a hand-drawn sad-face emoji.

 _Oh yeah…_ Elena grimaced, remembering that scene in Fullmetal Alchemist when Ed and Al performed human transmutation to get their mom back. That scene was truly heartbreaking and devastating for her. Seeing how much blood Ed had lost was especially what made her heart break. They were just boys. They didn't deserve-

 _What?_ Elena suddenly jumped back, now grasping the paper at arm's length. Her brown eyes widened in surprised.

The circle was suddenly _red_ , instead of its pencil-black color. Not only was it red, but it also seemed to be glowing, practically _radiating_. It went on like this for a few seconds.

Then, it turned back into a regular black pencil color, as if nothing happened at all.

Elena still held the paper away from her face, a highly perplexed expression formed on her face.

 _What the hell was that?_ she thought, feeling heat in her forehead. Her hand trembled a bit, causing her to crumple the paper under her grip. The crumple broke the source of comforting silence that had taken place in her room for the past couple minutes.

She stared at the drawing, squinting for a good observation. The drawing didn't change color for the next handful of seconds.

Elena then sighed, blowing the drawing in her hand.

"I'm probably tired…" she whispered to herself. "I should go sleep now."

She placed the drawing on the same dresser it was originally on top of. She made sure that this time, it would not fall down.

She then glanced at herself at the mirror that was across from her and her bed.

Her hair was quite messy, as expected. There were times when her hair would look like a bloody war had taken place atop of her head; The warm-brown dyed locks would be sprawled out in all sorts of crazy directions, sometimes messing up her parting. Right now, it was just somewhat messy. Strands of hair was disheveled in many places. Her hair fell down to her normal length: an inch past her chest. She made some curls in it a few days ago. Some had managed to survive up to day, while others were perishing, returning back to her normal straight hair.

Elena sighed and plopped on her bed. She pulled her "A lot of cats" blanket on top of her and curled up in it, gaining immediate comfort from its warmth. She closed her eyes, soon enough entering the world of dreams.

 _I'm awake…_ Elena thought to herself. However, she still kept her eyes closed, as they felt slightly heavy. She laid down on her left side, nearly curling up; a position she almost always slept in. She knew that it wasn't good for her back, yet she still slept as so. She could never fall asleep on her back, for some strange reason. But when she did on a slim chance, she would have some sort of strange dream.

She slowly opened her dark brown eyes. A sheer bright white color greeted her, nearly blinding her.

 _Shit!_ Elena clenched her eyes shut, placing a small hand on top of her closed eyes. Her eyes suddenly stung a bit from the impact of the light. It was the last thing she was expecting to first see. She rolled herself on top of her back, keeping her eyes shut.

 _What's going on? Why is it so bright all of a sudden?_ she asked herself. _Did I left my lights on? I don't even remember putting them on…_

She then noticed the lack of warmth she was feeling. She wasn't covered under her blankets. There was nothing covering her body.

 _What happened to my blanket? I'm_ definitely _sure I slept under it._ Keeping her eyes shut, she moved her free hand and her feet around to feel for it. She didn't feel the familiar softness of her cat-patterned blanket anywhere near her.

She sighed, remembering another one of her odd habits. _I probably pushed it off the bed again while sleeping_ … _I guess I'll try to get it._

Elena slowly opened her eyes again. Within seconds, her eyes went from clenched-shut to wide saucers as she realized what she was looking up to. Instead of looking up to her ceiling with the fan hanging above her head, she was facing vast whiteness, nothing more or less.

"I haven't seen this much whiteness since I was at the hospital…" she whispered to herself. Last year, she had broken her ankle from running too much. She was brushing up for her track team meet ups, which was the next day. She misstepped and fell horribly down the hill, which ended up fracturing some parts of her ankle badly.

Elena looked around. Confusion was dwelling inside of her as she scanned the area. She didn't see any source of light; _everywhere was white._ She couldn't even pinpoint what kind of white was it. Was it as white as snow, or a glass of milk? Or perhaps as white as paper from her printer, or her iPhone charger? As white as the Colgate toothpaste, or as white as vanilla frosting? Either way, it was all white and empty. Nothing, or no one, was with her.

"Hello?" Elena croaked, rising up a bit. Nothing but silence had responded.

After a couple seconds, Elena collapsed back down. Instead of feeling the tender plush of her bed on her back, she felt something harsh and smooth, as if she was lying on polished floor.

"What the-" Elena looked down. She wasn't even lying on her own bed. She was on top of the ground. Or was she? Whatever she was lying on seemed transparent to the overall white place. The only thing that gave a different color was Elena's own shadow.

 _This is somewhat terrifying…_ She thought to herself as she sat up. She hugged her knees close to her chest, receiving some of the missing warmth from her now nowhere-to-be-found blanket.

 _Yet…_ Elena looked around once again. _This place…_ She squinted her eyes.

 _It looks so familiar. Have I been here before? Or is this perhaps from a show? A video game?_

The endless white area _did_ look familiar. Eerily familiar at the best. But that didn't help that much from the fact that the place was still eerie and unsettling. Not to mention, the place also felt a bit chilly. Despite wearing a chunky crewneck sweatshirt with black leggings, Elena was still trembling. Relying on her knees for warmth, she hugged her knees tighter and closer to her torso. She buried her chin in between her chest and knees.

 _Don't be scared, Elee_ … she thought in an attempt to reassure herself. _This is all a dream. You're probably having one of those weird dreams when you're sick. Uhhh… Oh! I believe they were called fever dreams!_

Elena placed a hand on her forehead. Instead of feeling some sort of warmness from the forehead, she felt only a faint warm feeling. It was the kind of warmth she'd normally feel when she didn't have a fever. It was as if her fever went away. Aside from that, Elena noticed that she actually didn't feel ill at all; Her threat didn't feel sore, and her nose didn't feel clogged. She wasn't aware how big of a contrast that was until now.

"I shouldn't be so surprised," Elena muttered to herself as she lowered her hand down, wrapping it around her knees. She suddenly noticed how healthier her voice sounded. "It _is_ a dream, after all."

" _What is?_ " Suddenly, she heard someone… Or rather a group of people chant. It sounded like multiple of different people has spoke to her to the point where it sounded like a yell. They all spoke at the same time. Her ears _ached_ badly from that.

 _Where did that come from?_ She asked herself, dropping one leg flat on the transparent ground. She looked around.

"Who's there?" She demanded, not knowing if she should actually be standing up or not. Compared to the multitude of voices she supposedly heard, she sounded tiny.

" _Heh…_ " she heard one voice chuckle this time.

 _Wait… weren't there…?_

" _Behind you…_ " Those numerous of voices returned. Just two simple words such as those were usually meant to sound far from a scream. However, with the numerous of voices returning, it sounded like a whole city screaming down at her. Her head felt like it was about to explode from the loudness.

After harshly flinching, Elena slowly turned around.

 _Is there a huge mob of people behind me?_ She thought as she turned around.

She finally spotted the source of the voices.

This someone (Was it even a person?) was a good couple feet away from Elena, sitting cross-legged. The figure of the mysterious person was just as transparent as the place they were both in. The only factor that made this figure noticeable was some sort of grey aura it (Him? Her?) that was radiating around the transparent-white body.

Elena was quite frightened. She was not expecting someone - or _something,_ for that matter - to look far from a normal person. Was this _thing_ even a human?

 _Wait… This creature looks really familiar…_ Elena squinted at the figure in front of her. She leaned forward a bit as she tried to get a better view.

Not a strand of hair was on the creature's lucid body. There were also no signs of clothing on it. However, it also didn't have any sort of private body parts exposed, either; It looked like one of those cartoon drawings where they simplified everything without much details.

The feature that stood out to Elena the most was its face. It had the same color as the entire body of the creature. But it had no eyes or ears. Just a mouth.

The creature noticed Elena gawking at it. Its mouth spread into a wide grin, revealing a set of gleaming, _horrifying_ , chalky-white teeth.

 _No freaking way…_ Elena's eyes widened in realization and utter shock. Even without her glasses on, she instantly recognized that monstrous signature grin. If anything, that smirk looked more terrifying than ever.

"T-Truth?" she whispered, stuttering on _his_ name.

The creature - now confirmed as Truth - sneered at the girl again.

"Took you long enough to figure that out," he spoke. Once again, his voice sounded like a plethora of others talking all at once down at Elena. Elena could've sworn that her ears were ready to pop.

Upon seeing her blown away, Truth softly snickered. It sounded like only one person was snickering, to Elena's relief.

"Oh, right," Truth mused, surprisingly maintaining that soft tone in his voice, "I forgot. You're from _that_ dimension. Humans are much more feeble there. Especially the younger ones, such as you." He pointed a transparent finger at Elena, whose face was scrunched up in confusion.

"Dimension? As in another universe?" Elena asked, crossing her arms. "Those… Don't really exist though."

This made Truth howl in amusement. Again came the multitude of voices.

Elena covered her ears with her two hands. There was no difference in the sound, as it felt like the voices were leaking through the gaps of her fingers straight to her ears. She was surprised that she wasn't getting any kind of headache, or was even _sane,_ from this creature

"H-Hey…" she croaked, "Have you forgotten about my ears?"

She then thought, _He did say I was feeble… What does he mean by that?_

Truth had actually complied, as it stopped snickering a couple seconds later. However, it still kept that wide, teeth-exposing grin. Elena shuddered in the inside at the sight. She remembered how she always strived at making her teeth as white as she could.

Now she dreaded having clear white teeth like the Truth's.

"Even though you're from a different dimension, you humans are all the same," Truth went on, surprisingly keeping his voice to a minimum volume, "Cocky, arrogant, thinks they know _everything_ once they get their hands on some sort of knowledge."

"I'm sorry?" Elena was now genuinely confused, "What did I say?"

"The way you told me how you weren't from 'some alternate universe,'" Truth mockingly imitated Elena's voice, "You do _not_ know about these dimensions at all. Your world may be more technologically superior, yet you humans still are clueless about the existence of multiple dimensions. Such as the world of _alchemy_."

 _Oh right!_ Elena's thoughts snapped back to her revelation earlier. She glanced at Truth.

 _This, er, guy is from Fullmetal Alchemist! How did I not thought of that?_

A small, sly grin formed on her face. _Wait til Mack here about this! Oh man, I can't wait to see that look on his face as I tell him about my dream with Truth! He'll be so-_

" _So you think this is a dream?_ " Truth abruptly asked. Despite the hushed voice he maintained, it still startled Elena.

However, Elena tried to keep her composure strong. She questioned, "Well, if it isn't a dream, then how did you read my mind?"

"Heheh!" Truth laughed. He straightened his back, showing pure interest. "Well… I _am_ called by many names." Then, his voice became serious and almost poetic-like as he continued, "I am the world, I am the universe. I am God… I am Truth."

Elena's face slowly formed in realization. She remembered this speech.

 _No way…_ she thought.

"I am all… And I am one…" he finished. He then point a transparent finger at the girl. "And I am also… _You._ Therefore, I know _exactly_ what you are thinking. Does that answer you question, girl?"

"A-Actually…" Elena then sat straight up in an attempt to keep a strong composure, "This proves my theory even more. This _is_ a dream. I remember you from that show."

"A _show_?" Truth suddenly laughed. It came out like a echoey chorus. "Well, what if I told you that it wasn't some 'show' that you watched? What if I told you that it was some other reality? Another dimension that your humans have never discovered?"

"Oh, really?" Elena's words squeaked like a chick, but she kept the same daring, questioning expression, "What makes you say that?"

"Well…" Truth placed one finger on his transparent chin, as if he was deeply contempting something, "Your humans have never discovered any other worlds. Yet they've tried, but had given up in the end. All they do is _hope_ that they don't find any other creatures in that small universe. They fear that these creatures would be smarter and stronger than them. Despite having such advanced technology, your puny world still can't do much outside of the planet."

"Well…" Elena stared at Truth. She didn't know how to respond to that, especially since most of it was sadly true.

Truth gleamed at her and continued, "This dimension, on the other hand, has quite some knowledgeable people, even though their technology is not as superior as your world's. Actually, this world has a plethora more of intelligent people than yours! Not only that, but a good few of these people are aware of other presence scattered around the universe. They know about other dimensions…"

Truth then pointed at Elena, "... such as _yours!_ "

Elena looked at Truth with heavy confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Truth once again howled in laughter. This time, it sounded like echoes of others laughing along, as if someone told a funny joke. Elena clamped her hands on her ears, unable to withstand the loudness. She glared at the Truth, who sneered in return.

"What the hell was that about?" Elena suddenly snapped, slowly removing her hands from her ears.

"You just further proved how clueless your kind is!" Truth answered, ignoring the girl's rudeness, "No matter how smart you may think you are, your world is underdeveloped, compared to this other dimension. Oh! Speaking of this other dimension!"

Suddenly, Truth was just mere inches from Elena's face.

"Gah!" Elena yelped, falling on her back. She then supported herself up with her arms.

She was about to scoot back until Truth asked, "Did you know that someone from this certain dimension had summoned you?"

"Summoned… Me?" Elena then moved back and sat up. "Why? How?"

 _What kind of person from another dimension want me for? How do they know me? Is that actually a thing?_ Elena thought, her eyebrows arched in deep tonight and dismay. She didn't remember something like that ever being possible. Even Mack had never mentioned anything like that. _Maybe it was a spoiler?_

"A summoner could summon someone for various reasons! They're usually able to summon someone through any drawn transmutation circles in a particular world. The person must be looking directly at the circle," Truth explained, sounding somewhat passionate, "I guess you were the most recent runt looking at the circle. What a shame for whoever may be summoning you."

"Wait…" Elena looked directly at Truth, "You don't know who summoned me?"

"Obviously, someone who has a high talent in alchemy," Truth answered matter-of-factly.

"So… You don't know?" Elena asked again with a soft smirk.

Truth was silent. Elena smirked again, satisfied.

But then, he replied, "No. But I _do_ know that I need to send you to that world the summoner is in. After all, you are starting to become bothersome, especially with all of these questions."

Suddenly, a loud sound erupted behind Elena, causing her to jump yet again. The sound of something tremendous opening up. It all came directly behind her.

Elena slowly turned around.

"What the…" she mumbled.

A huge door, perhaps twelve times taller than her, was opening up, splitting into two. The thick doors were worn out, and had some sort of branches designed on it, along with some foreign scribbled words. It was the color of pale grey rocks.

 _That's…!_

Before Elena could react, she felt a chilling, powerful wind escape the opening doors. Her hair whipped back. The wind was so powerful that it stung Elena's face. She stretched out one of her arms in an attempt to shield her face.

After the frenzy of winds were over, Elena slowly lowered down her arm. She was then looking straight at a giant grey eyeball, ominously surrounded by nothing but darkness; a stark contrast from the place she and Truth were in.

"Oh, shit!" Elena screamed. She moved back a bit. But all of a sudden, she felt something tug at her lower right leg. She looked down at screamed even more.

A tiny black hand had gripped her leg. The hand gave it a little tug, pulling Elena slowly towards the door.

Elena yanked herself backwards in an attempt to avoid the door. She looked back at Truth, who had the same ridiculous grin as ever.

"Scared ya, didn't I?" he stated rather haughtily. He still managed to speak in a voice low enough to not blow away Elena.

"What is this!?" Elena frantically asked.

"Oh, don't play dumb with me," Truth replied, grinning wider than ever. "You, of all of the humans in that low-life world, should know. _Look closely_."

Elena hesitantly turned back to the grey hue. It looked back at her unblinkingly. The eye had many shades grey, getting darker and darker the closer it was to the pupil. It was definitely unsettling and haunting.

Elena winced.

 _Creepy…_ she thought.

She then shook her head.

 _No, no, Ell…. Focus…_ She took a deep breath and continued looking at it.

Yet, it _did_ look similar to something Elena saw before. Upon recognizing it, she covered her mouth with one hand, muffling a loud gasp.

 _The Gate of Truth…_ she thought, staring at it with fear.

"Aha!" Truth laughed, keeping a decent volume. "I knew you would get it! Good girl!"

Elena didn't respond; she simply didn't know how to respond to him. That, and she was too busy staring at the gigantic eyeball. She found it difficult to break away from the powerful gaze of it. It was as if the eyeball was hypnotizing her. Not to mention, it gave off a chilling presence. Everything about the eyeball, and the whole Gate in general, was just _mesmerizing._

At this point, everything felt like a dream, yet at the same time felt like reality. It was starting to become one of _those_ dreams.

"No response, huh?" Truth continued, "Well, at least I found something that made you quiet for once. For some odd reason, I always seem to get this kind of reaction from humans whenever I introduce them to the Gate of Truth. Even those that are aware of its existence would still stare at it with some sort of fear."

Elena then turned back, facing the creature. One question was racing through her head over and over.

 _What is he going to do with me?_

"Oh, don't worry. You don't owe me a sacrifice, as _you're_ not the one who activated a transmutation circle for this. However…" Truth once again bared his teeth, " _You are still going in the Gate._ "

Suddenly, a plethora of those same black hands sprang out from the wide doors. They all grasped Elena at various parts of her body. A frightened yelp escaped Elena's lips as she felt them seize her. They all felt frigid and tight.

As Elena stared at the hands in shock, Truth smugly continued, "Still think this is all a dream? This will prove you and your 'theory' all wrong!"

The hands started to drag her towards the door.

"No, no, no, no!" Elena panicked. She attempted to pull herself away from the Gate of Truth by scooting backwards. But her bonds were holding onto her tightly. The friction of the floor and her body stung her. It was all useless. She felt the cold air from the other side of the Gate introduce her.

As she was being hauled towards the Gate, she heard Truth snicker and say, "Have fun in the world of alchemy, human!"

Elena no longer felt the floor beneath her. Instead, she felt herself being pulled forward at a swift rate. The bleak whiteness that she was trapped in for minutes dissolved into nothing but pitch-blackness. She felt nothing around her; just the miniscule hands' sturdy grips and the wind from the fast pressure. The pressure she felt pelted against her body harshly. It especially stung at her face. The wind stung her eyes, forcing her to shut her eyes. Not only that, but she was barely able to breath through it. Her lungs felt like they would burst any minute. Her ears ached as well, as the blaring sound of the wind battered against them.

 _Please wake up, please wake up, please wake up…_ Elena thought to herself, coughing in between.

The darkness was extremely unbearable. The only thing Elena was able to see was pure blackness. It felt like the darkness was consuming her. It won't make a difference if she closed her eyes. That, along with the fast rate, was making her suffocate badly.

Everything felt like a nightmare to her.

Her body then started to feel numb. It started off at one of her legs, and then spreaded upwards in her body; her other leg, body, and arms all became numb slowly but steadily. She couldn't feel her body anymore.

 _Is this what it feels like when going through this Gate?_ Elena managed to think, remembering seeing the scenes of Ed and Al going through it. The only thing that was missing from her experience here was the sudden flow of past memories and knowledge. She felt like she was gaining nothing but panic and pain. It felt like she was arriving to death.

 _Unless if I just wake up…_ she thought weakly but irritably.

She still didn't felt like she was waking up. If anything, it felt like her world was slowly slipping apart from her. Elena was feeling dizzy; everything around her started slowing down. She felt like she was drifting away from just everything.

And then there was nothing.

 _Urgh… Agh…_ Elena let out a moan as she felt reality coming back to her. She felt worn out. Perhaps it was her sickness that made her felt like so. She forgot for a moment that she was sick.

Her eyes were closed, and she was curled up on her sides yet again.

 _Am I… Back in my room?_ Elena thought. _I swear, if I'm not…_

She felt the ground. It was concrete hard. The air around her felt brisk and chilly.

Almost like Truth's place.

 _No no no…_ Elena thought with worry. Then, she reassured herself, _I probably just… Rolled out of my bed! Yeah! That dream was so intense, holy shit! Anyone would've rolled out of bed with a dream like that! My room was probably colder than I thought it really was. After all, I was underneath my blanket for practically the whole morning! Lemme just open my eyes. That'll prove everything! It's all just a…_

She opened her eyes quickly. She was expecting to be back in her comfy room, with her bed and dresser looming above her. She expected to see the lavender colored walls of her room, and the fan on her ceiling. She expected to see her blanket sprawled out on her bed, or even on the floor with her.

But instead, she saw a hollow, grey ceiling above her. The ceiling was obviously worn out and breaking down; there were multiple cracks shaped like lightning that covered the ceiling. There was even a enormous hole on the ceiling, exposing the blue sky above the… Room? House? Building?

"W-What?" she exclaimed, her voice taking on a higher pitch. She was devastatingly confused right now.

 _Am I still dreaming!?_ She thought to herself. She continued staring upward with an alarmed expression.

To her far right, Elena unexpectedly heard a tiny voice, and the scurrying of someone's quick footsteps. Within some mere seconds, someone was at her side. She felt the person's small hands on her shoulder and side. The person gently rolled her over to her flat back. Elena didn't feel any pain, which relieved her. She also noticed that just like in Truth's lair, she wasn't sick. She still has no stuffy nose, sore throat, or pounding migraines. She just felt a little tired.

Elena was then face-to-face with another girl. The girl's eyes were wide and as dark as the night sky. Her face was literally as round as a circle. She was adorned in a blush-colored Eastern-traditional dress. It looked like a Chinese dress, but Elena didn't want to jump on conclusions to that. It could be Japanese, Korean, or even Vietnamese. Though, Elena would've quickly known that it was Vietnamese, since she was Vietnamese herself. Other than that, that's something Elena has never seen anyone wear in public, ever.

Elena, however, was more distracted from the girl's hair.

 _I've never seen so many braids on a person before…_ she thought, staring at her hair.

Her jet black hair was done in six braids, three on each side. They formed two buns on the top of her head, which were each secured by some white elastic of sorts, before trailing down her back. Even though they were braided and wounded up in buns, they were still extremely long, dangling only about an inch above the dirty floor.

"Are you ok?" the girl asked. Her voice was unexpectedly squeaky and high pitched, which surprised Elena. Her voice sounded fake, yet at the same didn't. She has heard various of voice tones before, girls especially. She has heard girls with voices as deep as a guy's voice, but didn't bother to comment on it. However, she has hardly ever heard anyone speak in such a high-pitched voice. She had only heard toddlers speak in such a voice. The girl next to her didn't even look so young. She looked to be around ten or eleven.

Elena's startled expression must've been obvious, as the girl apologized, "Did I scare you? I'm so sorry!" She lifted up both of her hands in worry.

 _Wow… I feel bad now…_ Elena thought to herself sullenly. She was about to assure her that it was fine, until she noticed something about the girl's movement.

The girl seemed quite... animated. More animated than how people's movements and gestures would be. The way she spoke and lifted her hands seemed more fluid. Not to mention, the girl… Not just the girl, _everything_ seemed more vibrant and bright. Even the dark, broken-down place they were in seemed to have more of a brighter color.

 _What a weird dream…_ Elena thought, squinting her eyes.

She glanced back at the girl. She had the same apologetic anime-like face any other anime girl would have.

Elena answered, "Yeah… I think I'm alright."

Elena then slowly sat up to prove her answer. She felt her side ache a little, but that was probably from laying on that same position on a hard ground. Other than that, she felt fine. She would be able to walk without any issues.

There was a brief moment of silence as Elena repositioned herself. Then, the girl next to her asked, "So who are you?"

Elena looked at the girl.

 _Should I tell her my real name?_ she thought, weariness growing in her.

The girl had a small, innocent smile on her face; the innocence of a child who hasn't seen the nastiest and worst of the world yet. She was, after all, none other than a kid. What harm would she do to her?

 _I might as well…_ Elena thought, _After all, it's still a dream. It won't hurt to tell her my name._

"My name? It's Elena," she said with a faint smile.

"Elena?" the girl repeated rather thoughtfully. After a couple seconds, she beamed, her eyes shut and her mouth in a wide grin, "It's nice to meet you!"

Elena looked at the girl, mildly amused.

 _She looks like one of those anime girls, with their eyes closed and a big smile,_ she thought. _It doesn't look weird on her, like how it would look for other people._

"My name is May Chang!" the girl introduced herself with a small bow. Elena slightly blushed. She wasn't expecting her to suddenly bow at her like that. No one has ever bowed at her like that. She had never even met anyone who has bowed at others when introducing themselves.

"And this is my friend, Xiao Mei!" May continued, gesturing to her shoulder.

"Huh?" Elena was looking around. She didn't see anyone else but her. Although… There was some other guy in the corner. The person was a short, old man, garbed in some traveling clothes that ended up looking like worn out rags.

Elena then realized something.

 _Oh no…_ she thought. She used one hand to touch her face. She felt her cheeks and nose. But she also felt her eyes.

She didn't have her glasses on.

 _Well, shit. Not only am I in a super long dream in an unknown place, but I don't have my glasses. Great._ She thought.

Her vision wasn't the best, as she wasn't able to see things, people, and places that were at a relatively far distance. She could never go out without her contacts or glasses. She always needed one of the two. The guy she was looking at seemed quite blurred to her. She couldn't properly see his face at the distance. All she saw was a mixture of white, brown, and black.

The guy had noticed Elena staring at him intensely. He gave her what she assumed a nasty look. "Hm? What do you want?"

 _His voice sounds familiar…_ Elena thought, squinting her eyes.

She looked at May. Jabbing a thumb at his direction, she asked, "That's… Your friend?"

May vigorously shook her head. "No, no! That's Master Yoki, actually!"

 _Yoki…_ Elena thought. _That name sounds so familiar… Who was he again?_

"This is Xiao Mei!" May pointed at her shoulder.

Elena glanced at May's shoulder, skeptical of what she was trying to show from her shoulder. She then noticed the minuscule animal perched on the shoulder.

 _Is that… A hamster? Sitting still on her shoulder?_ Elena was in shock. The animal stared back at her with its - Hers? His? - dark eyes.

 _No way! My own hamster, Taro, could never stay in one place in even in his own his own cage! How even-_

Elena then noticed the animal's tiny black ears and the black-and-white body. Not to mention, it had a head, rather than one body like a hamster.

 _No way…_ Elena thought in disbelief. She leaned back a bit. _I can't be seeing things…. Is that…?_

"Xiao-Mei is a panda!" May declared, "I don't know why a lot of people in this country thinks she's some cat…"

 _A panda?_ Elena deadpanned, tuning out May after her first sentence. _Isn't that illegal, to have a- Oh, whatever. I'm not going to even question it. This dream is getting weirder and weirder by the minute now._

Elena's stomach unexpectedly growled. It howled in a rather barbaric way. She literally felt her stomach vibrate as it howled for food.

"Oh, damn…" she whispered to herself, placing a hand on her stomach. She felt it giving off one last light rumble underneath her palm.

 _Since when was it possible to be_ this _hungry in a dream?_ Elena thought.

May had heard the clear growls of the stomach, as she looked at Elena with a concerned expression, especially for a kid. It almost didn't suit her. Almost.

"Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?" she asked.

 _Well… Didn't you just heard my stomach growl? It sounded like a horde of wolves…_ Elena thought. Though, she couldn't say that to May. At least not yet. She was just a kid.

"Yeah, I guess I am," Elena answered with a light, shy giggle.

"Okay…" May replied. She then stood up and, in the loudest voice she could, shouted, "Master Yooooki! We need food!"

Elena could've sworn her ears were about to bleed from that high-pitched, deafening voice of the tiny girl. Her voice really made up for her height. Xiao-Mei, however, seemed unfazed despite being right next to May's mouth.

 _Damn… Is that panda actually used to that?_ Elena looked at the panda with an aghast expression. _Is she usually this loud and hyper? I can only imagine…_

"You want _more_ food?" Elena heard "Master" Yoki whined. "You already ate through _three_ of my canned food!"

"No! She needs food!" May chirped like a bird, probing at Elena's head with her pointy finger.

Yoki grunted. He placed a leather pouch on the ground. It looked quite full, which made Elena wonder why he was being so overdramatic about the food. He shoved a hand in it, relinquishing a canned good. Yoki then rolled it towards Elena.

He rolled the can in a remarkable speed, that Elena wasn't fast enough to stop it. Instead, it bumped her knee harshly.

"Ow!" Elena cried out, holding the knee in an attempt to soothe the throbbing pain. "Hey, you could've warned me about that!"

"Well, you should've seen it coming!" Yoki snapped back. He then turned his back towards the girl, grumbling about something else that was deaf to Elena's ears.

Elena decided that she didn't like this Yoki person. After glaring at the man's back for a couple quick seconds, she gathered the can with one hand. It was quite heavy, heavier than she expected it to be. She looked at the can. It had a cylinder-like shape, like many standard canned goods. It was wrapped in a paper with warm colors such as yellow and orange.

"Lemme help you with that!" May offered. Before Elena could decline, she scooped up the can from her. She took out a knife and started poking at the can lid with it.

 _Wait a second… Is that a kunai?_ Elena stared at the knife with wide eyes. She felt chills at her spine, horrified of the fact that this girl had practically carried a weapon with her. It was unsettling.

With a little hum, May successfully opened the can with her trust kunai. She handed the can to Elena with that "anime-beaming face" of hers. "Here you go!"

The can had distracted Elena from the kunai. She took the can and thanked the girl.

There were peaches in it.

 _Nice._ Elena thought. She suddenly started eating them out like a pig, shoving down handful of peaches in her mouth. She didn't realized how hungry she was until now. She may have looked gross and unmannered towards her new company, but she did not care the slightest bit. She was hungry.

"So… So good…" Elena said in between bites. She didn't realize Yoki staring at her with a totally nauseated expression, or May slightly giggling at her.

However, a sudden, deep voice calling out Yoki's name had momentarily distracted her from her mini meal. She looked up to see who this new person was, peach juice dripping from her chin down to the can and her hands. She nearly choked on her mouthful of peaches upon seeing who the person was.

The new person was a man with brown skin and muscular arms and body. One of them had a lengthy black tattoo on it. Although, that did not surprise Elena.

What surprised her was the other features this man bore. Despite not having her glasses on, his features were as clear as water.

Hair as white as snow. Eyes as red as blood. And a large scar that formed an X on his larger, sturdy forehead.

It was none other than Scar from Fullmetal Alchemist.

 **The ending may have seemed a bit rushed. I'm sorry about that. :c**

 **This had actually ended up being a lot longer than I anticipated it to be ._. Lemme know what you guys think of it so far tho!**

 **Anyways, lmao I've** _ **adored**_ **the trio of May/Scar/Yoki in season 2. They've made such a great team. I'm actually surprised that hardly anyone who wrote an OC story had started with the OC being with these peeps lmao. I wish I saw more of it.**

 **If you've read all of this, then thank you so much for bearing through it! I hope you liked it! Lemme know what y'all think of it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hello, guys! Sorry for taking long on updating! Last month was pretty hectic, with a bunch of projects and finals here and there ;;**

 **I can't believe I've managed to make just a couple minutes of something turn into over 6,000 words in a chapter… o.o; Well technically, there are some different things sprinkled in here and there, regarding Elena. But still… How even? Welp, I'm glad that I didn't go overboard with the chapter this time at least haha**

 **Thank you for all of the reviews, faves, and follows! c: Tbh, I wasn't expecting to get that much feedback from all of you! I was extremely surprised, actually. But I'm so glad y'all like it so far! Your reviews are especially very heartwarming and flattering, and I appreciate it all!**

 **Anyways, enough from moi! You've all waited for practically a month! Thank you so much for your patience!**

If there was one word she would describe the sudden events she was witnessing, it would be anomalous.

Firstly, Elena meets Truth. The creature, God, or whatever he was, had done nothing but belittle the world that Elena lived in. He approached her with the issue as if the people were practically Elena's people. Well… They were all humans like Elena. Yet, Truth had treated it as if Elena was in charge of her humans; laying out all the problems to her, highly suggesting that they were by all means unintelligent. Only because the people on Earth didn't practice the concepts of alchemy.

It was absurd; Elena wasn't even familiar with alchemy, so why would Truth suddenly outpour his views on a girl who just wanted to get better from her sickness? Why would Elena care? Her world was fairing off well without alchemy. In fact, technology was what made her world advanced. Was it her being ignorant about it, or Truth?

Besides that, Truth's voice sounded like a large population screaming down at her. The creature would mumble just a few words, and it'd all sound like hell to Elena's ears.

Then, without any kind of choice from her, Truth dumped Elena into the Gate of Truth. Elena would never forget the multitude of hands clinging onto her as she was dragged into nothing but darkness. It was haunting, it was dark, it was eerie, and it was frightening.

But it could've been so much worse.

Truth had spared Elena from the agony and pain that other alchemists were inflicted with. Luckily, she wasn't an alchemist. But unluckily, she was still forced to go through the Gate of Truth, as a soul for the unknown summoner.

Then, she woke up to a girl who screams foreign tourist. Everything about her was different, especially for the North American standards; from her blush-colored Eastern dress, to her jet-black hair, to even her pet panda, of all animals.

She was nice, though. Pleasant and enjoyable, even. Her voice was out of norm and high-pitched. But that characteristic didn't hinder her amicable personality in the slightly bit.

Her actions was quite… Fluid, at the very least. It was so fluid and vibrant to the point where it literally looked animated.

As animated as an anime.

It wasn't long enough until a new person came into play.

"Yoki," the new person, a male, had called out. His distinct features - scarlet eyes, brown skin, and snow-white hair - made him easy to recognize.

Scar from Fullmetal Alchemist.

 _What the hell is going on?_ Elena pondered as she gaped at the new visitor, mouth full of peaches and dripping with peach juice. She probably looked like a low-life, unmannered peasant. But she could care less; she was more engrossed in Scar. She didn't want to admit it, but she was even a bit anxious as well. Just a bit. She knows what he's capable of. She remembered those episodes where he brutally beaten up and even _murdered_ people.

She especially remembered how he slaughtered Basque Gran; one second, his giant hand was engulfing his face. Within the next second, red sparks sprawled out from his hands into multitudes of directions. The back of the Iron Alchemist's head had practically exploded, scarlet red blood gushing out all over the area. Some had even managed to trickle out from the alchemist's eyes, pouring right into the same hand Scar used to kill him.

Scar was literally a cold-hearted murderer with bloodstained hands.

Elena then noticed how dark the place she was in was. Scar stood by the doorway, blocking the bright sunlight outside. The place really could've used some sunlight. Elena was pretty sure that if she stepped outside, she would be instantly blinded by the sunlight. It would be similar to waking up in a hotel room with those giant curtains blocking an equally giant window. Waking up in total darkness at first, and then suddenly blinded by the sunlight as someone pulls the curtains.

Elena looked skyward at the crumbling ceiling. It was dull and old; many parts of it were cracking or peeling off. Beads of sunlight leaked through the various tiny openings. It still wasn't sufficient for the dim house.

 _I hope to the lord that nothing comes crashing down our heads…_ Elena hoped. She was already in a tight situation. There wasn't any need to worsen it.

 _I also hope he doesn't kill little innocent girls…_ Elena mused. She took one more good look at the tan man.

 _Wait a second… What is he wearing?_ She realized Scar's different outfit.

She remembered his outfit in Fullmetal Alchemist. He had some kind of jacket that was a couple shades lighter than his skin tone; it was almost like a goldish tan. Underneath his coat was a dull white shirt, all worn out. His legs were garbed in sweatpants that are similar to those Adidas sweatpants Elena thought were overrated; black with white stripes at the side. Scar's black sweatpants, however, had some white cross on each side instead of stripes. He had also worn shades to mask his obviously red eyes.

But what Scar is wearing isn't exactly alike to what Elena was used to.

Now, he wasn't wearing his coat, nor was he wearing his shades. Instead, a thin cloak the color of moss was draped over his worn-out shirt. Even with the cloak on, Elena was able to clearly see the details of his toned arms. His arms looked a lot more massive and bulky than she remembered. They were _big._ Elena remembered his arms being quite scrawny. Heck, she remembered his whole _figure_ being scrawny.

 _Why is he so buff? He makes the actual Scar look like a angsty poetry writer…_ Elena questioned uncomfortably.

A thought then occurred to her.

 _Wait… The actual Scar?_ Elena looked at him again. She quickly shoved a peach in her mouth to conceal her scrutiny and shock. She placed one palm over her mouth for extra measures, pretending that she was wiping her mouth.

 _Oh my god…_ Elena stopped chewing for a few seconds. _This is Scar from that other FMA anime… Brotherhood, right?_

She took one last glance at him. She clearly remembered seeing pictures of him online one afternoon. She was searching up more about the Ishvalan one day after watching a couple episodes of the Fullmetal Alchemist series. That, and she was bored. While searching through pictures, she saw varying pictures of Scar - some from the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist series, and others from Brotherhood. The differences were crystal-clear once Elena compared a picture of the Scar from the older series to one of Scar from Brotherhood next to it. The Brotherhood Scar had worn, and looked, exactly like the man in front of her: a green cloak with a bulkier build.

 _Oh man, it_ is! Elena confirmed. She wasn't even finished with the first Fullmetal Alchemist series. She hardly knew information about Brotherhood, other than some tidbits from Mack. And now, here she was; eye to eye to the Scar she was even less knowledgeable of than the Scar from the series she was trying to finish.

Elena glanced at May. The other girl, like Elena, was also highly intrigued in Scar. She looked fascinated, and even unwary about Scar, as if she never heard of him at all. She was kneeling down next to Elena, practically resembling a pupil kneeling down.

 _So first Truth, and now Scar…_ Elena continued to muse. _Both of them are characters from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood… I wonder if she's from Brotherhood as well._

She took a quick glimpse at "Master" Yoki. He was gaping at Scar with a frightened expression. Elena stifled a giggle; he looked pathetically funny with that face.

Yoki also looked at him with a huge sense of familiarity. Was he close to Scar? How much did they knew each other? From the way it seems, they don't have much of a amiable bond. If anything, it seemed unhealthy and hostile. Why would they be together then?

Despite all of that, he still seems highly familiar. He even sounds familiar.

 _He could've also been from Fullmetal Alchemist. Either the first or Brotherhood…_ Elena thought. _So… I'm dreaming about being in Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood?_

She instantly regretted not taking up Mack's insane galore and knowledge about Brotherhood. He was extremely dedicated to the series in a way. But he had a lack of control whenever he babbled about it. He almost even spoiled Elena a couple times in the past. Ever since then, Elena only allowed Mack to tell her some minor details, or something interesting and spoiler-free. It actually worked out well when he did just that. But would any of those facts help her out?

Elena suddenly felt Scar's gaze on her. His eyes, an angry shade of red, lingered on her and May. His gaze was quite powerful; Elena felt like he was piecing into her very soul. His face was set in his neutral expression: a muted scowl. She could easily tell that he was confused, perhaps even displeased. Though Elena didn't blame him; she'd also be skeptical as to why there were suddenly two girls in her house.

Still staring down at the two girls, Scar finally spoke up, his voice sounding hushed and solemn, "What's going on? Who are they?" His hands were balled up in fists. Elena could see his chest rising up and sinking down from his breathing.

To her left, Yoki walked up to the Ishvalan, one hand in another. Even though Scar wasn't looking at him, Yoki knew that he was seeking answers from him specifically. His back was hunched, and his cowardness quickly diminished into enthusiasm. He looked like he was trying to appeal a customer.

"Oh, sir, you returned! Welcome back!" Yoki greeted, as if he was _actually_ glad to see the naturally glowering man.

That wasn't the answer Scar was looking for. In a more emphasized tone, he repeated his command, "I said, _who are these girls_?"

Yoki suddenly flinched harshly. He was acting as if a strong wind suddenly blew him. Elena nearly snorted. Sure, she was also anxious of Scar. After all, he was practically a murderer. She didn't know if he would hurt her or May, or even the panda - the panda didn't deserve to die! Yet, it wasn't like Scar had yelled at him. But she shouldn't be saying something like that. She didn't know why Yoki was with Scar. Perhaps he's a hostage?

 _But he was alone in this place before Scar came…_ Elena thought. _I'm pretty sure that he would've fled. And I'm even more sure that Scar would've never left him alone like that. Silly you._

Out of the corner of her eye, Elena saw May shift her kneeling position, facing the man. With that cheerful smile of her's, she spoke up, "Pleased to meet you! My name is May Chang, sir!" She bowed her head at her introduction, and grinned even wider.

So far, there was just no end to the girl's happiness and smiles.

Elena could've sworn that even the tiny panda on her shoulder was beaming just like her. That panda was mimicking every expression of May, like a parrot copying every word of someone.

 _I have to admit… That is pretty cute…_ Elena thought. _The panda makes it so cute! If only my hamster could do stuff like that..._

She imagined her tiny hamster on her shoulder, mimicking Elena's expressions.

 _How cute would that be?_ she thought dreamily.

Scar let out a grunt of… Approval? Understanding? It sounded just as gruff as his voice. It was hard to Elena to decipher what was going on in that skull of his.

Elena then reached her hand in her can of peaches. There was just one more slice in there. But her hand couldn't find it.

 _I know it's somewhere in there.._ She thought, fumbling through the can. She felt the sturdy tin of the can, but no fruit. She scanned the dark, dusty floor around her. There was some residue from the ceiling above them. But there was no peach.

Then, she felt the soft, juicy texture of a peach. The slice felt minuscule, compared to the other thicker slices she ate. But she was fine with it; food was food, after all.

 _There it is…_ she grinned triumphantly as she dished out the final orangey slice. She stuffed it in her mouth.

She suddenly felt a sharp pang of pain and pressure on her finger.

"Ow!" Elena winced. She yanked her finger out of her mouth. She scrutinized it, hoping that it wasn't bleeding. To her relief, her slender finger just had a few bite marks. Although it stung with pain, and it was slightly red, no blood was gushing out of the finger.

 _How did I manage to do that?_ Elena pondered to herself. Still, it wasn't her first time that she bit her finger while hungrily scarfing down food, so she wasn't entirely surprised. Not to mention, she even bit down so hard, to the point where her finger would bleed.

She shrugged to herself, and munched on her final piece of peach. The juice in it tasted sweet, refreshing, and satisfying. She felt more rejuvenated and awake. But not awake enough to escape from her dream.

 _Would I rather be confined in bed with a nasty cold, or stay stuck in a dream of an anime I've never watched?_ Elena questioned herself.

She glanced back at the can.

 _Why are they so good?_ She thought. She was highly disappointed that they was done. But she couldn't pinpoint why.

 _I'd never think about a simple can of peaches like that…_ Elena looked at the can. _I've never eaten canned peaches before!_

She suddenly realized her peculiar behavior with the food. It was just a can of peaches. She felt silly but weird. What was going on?

" _A-hem!_ " Someone cleared his throat quite loudly. The voice was deep and, again, gruff. Elena looked up to see who did that.

It was none other than Scar that cleared his throat. His raging-red eyes were scrutinizing not May, not Yoki, but Elena. No one else or less. He still had that same unselfconscious scowl. He stood still and tall, practically looking like a lonely statue.

 _Would that man ever smile?_ Elena thought.

Scar then spoke up, impatience growing in his tone, "And you?"

 _Alright, Lena, you got this…_ Elena said, bracing herself.

Elena looked at Scar, coffee-brown eyes locking into those fierce scarlet eyes. She straightened her posture, quickly swallowed the peach, and swiped an arm across her juicy chin.

"H-Hi…" she started off a bit softly. Then, with a deep breath , she continued, "My name is Elena…" she continued with a grin, attempting to sound somewhat casual and a bit reserved.

 _Hopefully he'll cut his slack off if he thinks I'm more of a reserved person…_ Elena thought.

"Mmm…" Was all Scar replied. It sounded emotionless.

 _Not much for words, isn't he?_ Elena thought, raising an eyebrow.

An uncomfortable, awkward silence hung in the air. Yoki was looking at the Ishvalan, then at the girls, and then back at the Ishvalan. Scar kept a sturdy gaze upon the girls. May stared back at the looming man with that unfaltering grin. It looked like some staring contest.

The silence was too uncomfortable. Too awkward. It was to the point where Elena felt somewhat cold. She felt herself tremble a bit.

 _Well... Shouldn't we ask for his name?_ Elena asked herself. Even though she knew what he would say, it would help clear any suspicion. May didn't seem to mind him not returning the favor of saying his name. It didn't seem like she knew him, either.

 _Welp. I might as well ask then…_ Elena eventually decided after a couple seconds. It didn't seem like May would've asked. Nor would Yoki fill her in about him.

Elena took in a quick breath, and looked at Scar. "So, um… What's your name, then?"

Elena noticed that weird look Yoki was giving, staring right at the Ishvalan.

 _Oh, I just realized…_ Elena thought, suddenly panicking. _Doesn't everyone in Amestris knows about Scar? The way he looks? Red eyes and white hair, like any other Ishvalan._

Scar answered, his voice lacking any emotion, "I don't have a name. I abandoned it the moment I decided to leave my country and fulfill my mission to God."

Elena was somewhat expecting him to answer like that. She scrunched her face up at the last comment. She knew what his "mission to God" was: to eliminate alchemists. Especially the ones that contributed to the bloody Ishvalan War. Heck, it wasn't even a war; it was a bloody genocide.

 _To be honest, I really do pity him…_ Elena though, looking down at her can. _But is it really necessary to kill_ all _the alchemists? Also…_

Her face scrunched up yet again.

 _That's not fair. He expected us to tell him our names, yet he doesn't tell us his? Wow, how_ trusting _of him. I'm glad I know him… In a way, at least._

Casting aside her jumbled thoughts, she glanced at Yoki, expecting him to feed her with more knowledge. She gave him a expression that screamed, "Enlighten me, s'il vous plait."

Yoki looked up at Scar, as if he was waiting for some kind of approval. Scar's face remained unchanged; it was as stony as ever.

 _That man is so unreadable…_ Elena thought, squinting at nowhere in particular. She just hoped the Ishvalan in front of her wouldn't see it. _I wonder how Yoki pulls up with him. Maybe I'll ask him why he's here later on…_

Elena then gulped. _If there_ is _a later on, that is._

Yoki turned back to Elena. He cleared his throat. "The people here often refer to him as 'Scar.' The X-shaped scar on his face was used as inspiration of sorts for his code name. Ever since then-"

Elena had mentally cutted him off after the second sentence. She just couldn't stand the way he was explaining Scar.

 _He sounds so snobbish, like he knows everything about him…_ Elena thought.

It was true; Yoki was speaking in such a haughty manner. It felt like he was purposely trying to condense Elena with his "profound" knowledge of Scar. Elena's automatic dislike for him came back.

 _I wish Mack was here…_ Elena thought sullenly. She knew for sure that he would deliver a far better explanation than Yoki was.

Yoki continued babbling on, until Scar interrupted, "That's enough, Yoki." His voice sounded mildly annoyed.

 _Even he's sick of it…_ Elena struggled to hold her giggle, something she has never done yet in this place.

Yoki once again winced dramatically at Scar's low yet powerful voice. There was something about the way Scar spoke. His voice was barely above the volume of a rushed mutter. Yet, he managed to sound commanding, powerful, and even a bit frightening with that voice. His natural demeanor and aura was just as powerful as his voice; inanimate yet dominate.

Elena mused, _No wonder he was able to get through this place on his own._

Scar then shifted his attention back to Elena and May. "... Why are you two here?"

 _Yikes…_ Elena thought, gulping. _I was hoping he won't answer that. I don't even know how I got in this house. I just woke up. What am I supposed to say? "Oh, I just woke up in this nice place with a urgent… Urge to eat"?_

Elena looked at May, swirling the now-empty in her right hand. The raven-haired girl has been quiet for a good time.

Still maintaining that eager smile, May simply explained, "Well, we had collapsed at the side of the road. Your _master_ ," she glanced up at Yoki, "Mr. Yoki, revived us and brought us back here!"

She ended her explanation with a cheerful, chirpy-like tone.

 _Wait…_ Elena perked up at "we had collapsed at the side of the road."

 _Was I unconscious at the time?_ She asked herself. _Or was I awake, but didn't remember? Maybe I passed out while walking with her at the road?_

She looked at May.

 _I'll ask about that later on…_ she decided. She was worried that asking now would be a wrong time, and could cause some suspicion.

She glanced up at Yoki. Yoki was looking at the girl with an expression that basically read, "What the hell?"

 _Same, Yoki…_ Elena thought, casting her dislike of him for a solid second. The title didn't even fit him well; he didn't seem worthy enough for such a label.

"Master?" Scar repeated, pronouncing it as if he was feeling the word. Even _he_ was lost at the sudden title given to the older man, of all people. He glimpsed at Yoki, who had only gawked at May even more. It looked like Yoki was avoiding eye contact with Scar for a brief second. It also looked like Scar was thinking the same thing: Yoki didn't deserve the label "master."

Elena giggled.

 _Oh man! He looks so jealous!_ She mused in between her giggles. _What, does he want to be called "Master" by her?_

Luckily, Scar didn't hear her giggles. Either he did heard her, but ignored it, or was staring at Yoki so much to the point where all of his attention was reserved to that man.

Scar then grunted yet again. Turning to his left, he started trudging into the small house. May and Elena scooted back a bit, giving him room to enter. Scar then turned to his left, finally looking away from Elena. Elena felt like a huge weight was lifted away from her as his gaze broke away from her. She felt like she could breathe properly.

"You two have seemed to recover…" he spoke while walking, still not looking at the girls. His tone was as emotionless as ever. "There's no need for you two to stay. Be on your way at once."

" _What?_ " Elena thought out loud. However, it came out as a soft mumble. Only she had heard herself exclaim that.

 _How could you just kick out two girls like that?_ She thought, frowning. _Cut us some slack, man._

She looked at May. Even she was unhappy of what Scar had told them. Her face was a mixture of confusion and disappointment.

So there was an end to her grins.

Elena turned back to Scar. She noticed something… Off about him. The way he was walking. It looked like he was struggling to walk. It looked like he was limping.

 _Is he hurt?_ Elena thought.

Elena then noticed something on his right leg. The upper side of his pants had a huge tear. The edges were soaked with something scarlet.

 _Is that blood?_ Elena questioned.

She then noticed a huge cut that was exposed on his leg. Fresh blood was leaking out from the thick cut.

Behind her, May softly gasped. She must've noticed that cut as well. Elena then heard her body shuffle a bit. She looked behind her.

May was now standing up with a worried expression. It was the same expression Elena woke up to herself. With a hint of determination, she dashed towards the injured Ishvalan.

Elena turned back to Scar. He slowly sank down against the floor, letting out a hushed grunt of pain in the process. He leaned against the wall. His injured leg was sprawled out on the floor, while his other leg neatly laid flat. He grimaced yet again, his stony face diminishing into a pained expression.

 _Whoa…_ Elena thought. _I'd never thought I'd see him like this. Ever._

Ever since watching the show, Scar had always appeared to Elena as someone expressionless and cold. His aura was always intimidating, and he was always on guard. He was strong, no doubt about it. He had no mercy, took no nonsense from others, and done things without hesitation for the most part. Even in her dream, his character was a reflection of himself in the show. He was a killer, and his demeanor simply stated the truth of his character.

What Elena now saw was the total opposite of what she was accustomed to from Scar.

Scar now appeared weak. That was something Elena would have never imagined from him. But here he was now, wincing in pain, bleeding from a cut, and hardly able to move around. He was vulnerable at this stage. His head was bowed down, as if he was ashamed to appear at such a state, especially next to two girls.

May was now standing next to the wounded man.

Scar looked down at the girl. Elena could've sworn that Scar looked shocked and even startled for a brief second before he gruffly asked May, "What, girl?"

May immediately dipped down to the floor, returning back to her kneeling position.

"Allow me to close your wound," she told the Ishvalan gently, as if she was a nurse comforting a hysteric patient.

 _Wait… How?_ Elena asked herself, staring questioningly at the girl. She didn't seem to have any kind of medical kit around. How was she going to tend to the cut?

Elena was only able to see the girl's back. She saw May shifting around a bit, moving her arms a little bit here and there. Letting her curiosity get to her, Elena stood up. She walked up to the girl and the man. Peering right behind May's shoulder, with Xiao Mei on it, she saw her rapidly sketching a star inside a circle with white chalk.

Elena squinted. _Is this alchemy?_

May then balled up one of her tiny hands into a fist. Within a couple seconds, five of those same kunais she used to open up Elena's canned peaches appeared, coming out from her poofy dress sleeve.

 _Holy shit…_ Elena thought, once again feeling unsettled of the kunais. _I thought she was dangerous enough with_ one _kunai. But_ five _? I guess I have to start carrying knives around._

May gathered all of the kunais in a reachable center for her. She then grasped one of the unique knives and jabbed it by one of the corners of the star. She repeated the method with each of the four kunais left. After using the last one, May backed away a bit with a hum. All five of the kunais were each stabbed by one of the corners of the single star.

Elena heard someone gasp behind her. She turned around and saw Yoki staring at May's work with a… Startled expression? Confused? Perhaps a mixture of both.

Scar squinted his eyes at the star. He looked skeptical of it. Even a bit suspicious.

After observing the drawings and kunai for a couple seconds, May confidently placed two hands on top of the star.

 _That's similar to how Ed and Al does alchemy…_ Elena realized.

The circle and star glowed in a icy blue shade. Immediately, a frenzy of blue lightning emerged from the glowing transmutation circle. The lightnings sprawled out in multitudes of directions, but nowhere near any of the four. It illuminated the dark house with some light.

Elena flinched, not expecting the circle to give off such an reaction. She then felt a sudden jolt of warmness and energy from the circle. Something about the transmutation circle depicted a surge of positive energy to Elena. It made her feel refreshed and renewed. The circle gave out such a great sensation. It was totally different from what she was expecting; those frantic blue lightning would have cause total devastation. But it was quite the contrary from what Elena felt; she felt safe and energized next to the active circle.

 _Is this how it feel likes to be next to an active transmutation circle?_ Elena thought. The impact from the array made her hair flutter back, like a soft wind tickling her very presence. She closed her eyes a bit, taking in the relaxing flow of the circle.

Elena's eyes then fluttered back up, upon feeling someone staring at her. She automatically turned around and saw Yoki giving her another one of those strange looks he gave earlier on. His eyebrows were furrowed, and his eyes were squinted in a odd matter. His lips curled up in a frown.

 _Gosh. What's his problem?_ Elena thought, frowning back at him for a split second before looking back at the spectacle before her.

The blue lightning eventually died down. The room became dim and dark again. All of that warmth Elena felt was now gone.

Elena heard Yoki and even Scar gasp. They were both staring at Scar's leg with an astonished expression.

 _What happened?_ Elena thought, stretching forward to see the commotion. She then remembered:

 _Oh right! His cut!_ Elena joined them in looking at the leg. She then gasped herself.

The cut was all sealed up! Sure, there was still some leftover blood. But the cut was gone, as if it never existed. Scar's leg looked much better, despite the leftover blood.

 _Amazing…_ Elena mused, highly impressed. _I didn't know there was such thing as alchemy that could_ heal.

"It's healed!" Yoki exclaimed.

 _You don't say…_ Elena thought, mentally rolling her eyes.

Instead of replying to Yoki, Elena asked May, "Is that alchemy? I've never heard of anything that could heal…"

May turned around and chirped, "No. It's a skill called alkahestry from the land of Xing!" She beamed at Elena.

… _Xing?_ Elena mused over that word. _And… Alkahestry? They both sound so familiar…_

Suddenly, she remembered. She remembered hearing something about Xing and alkahestry from Mack.

 _Wait… Isn't alkahestry basically eastern alchemy?_ Elena thought, placing a finger on her chin thoughtfully. _And Xing…_

She looked at May.

Her hairstyle. Her panda. Her kunais. And most importantly, her dress.

 _It all makes sense…_ Elena thought, connecting everything at once. _Xing is basically the equivalent of China in the Brotherhood world..._ Elena shuddered. _I hope I'm not making some racist assumption at this._

Scar looked up at Yoki. He asked in a surprisingly soft tone, "They're from Xing?"

In an equally soft tone, if not softer, Yoki answered, "That's right…" as if he just realized. He then quickly added, "Well, I don't know about her though," pointing at Elena.

 _Oh no!_ Elena thought, panicking instead of getting irritated. _How am I supposed to explain to them where I came from!? How would they react if I said I was from America? I mean, I could just say that the country is extremely foreign and far from here. But what if they ask for some kind of story or reasoning of why I'm here?_

"The point is…" Yoki continued loudly, not letting Elena say anything, to her relief. He pointed down at May. "This girl! Crossed the desert! From the east! By herself! To get here!" With each shorten sentence, he jabbed his pointed finger downwards above May's head. His arm was at a ninety degree angle. To Elena, it looked hilariously painful. In general, Yoki looked pathetically funny.

Yoki crossed his arms and stood straightly. He looked down at the girl smugly and added, "How stupid could that be? It's clearly ridiculous."

Elena saw the spark that rippled in May's dark eyes. May stood up. Defiantly looking back at Yoki, she retaliated, "I did _not_ travel here alone! I was with my friend, Xiao Mei!"

The tiny panda on her shoulder, that did nothing but subtly mimic May's movements, raised one black paw and mewled in response.

Elena heard Scar grunt. Compared to the numerous of times he grunted, this one was much softer. It was audible, but barely.

Elena looked at Scar. He was now staring at the tiny panda with wide ruby-red eyes.

Elena looked at the man questioningly.

 _This anime, man…_ Elena thought to herself. _What's going on?_

She suddenly felt a brief spark of pain in her forehead. It came for just a second, and then went away. Despite that, the pain was harsh. Thankfully, not hard enough to make her scream in agony.

"Gah!" Elena groaned with clenched teeth. She held a light palm on her forehead.

 _What was that?_ she thought worriedly. She gently rubbed her fingers on her forehead. _Is that from waking up, maybe?_

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. After opening her eyes, she slowly removed her hand from her forehead. It was no longer aching.

May and Yoki were loudly bickering. Elena, however, was much more fixated on Scar. Scar was staring at Xiao Mei. May's back was facing the man, so neither the girl nor the panda knew that he was staring at her. The way he looked at her was obviously full of surprise and even a bit mesmerized. He then started to reach one of his hand out towards the panda.

 _Oh, no no no…_ Elena instantly recognized the pose of his hands. It was extremely similar to how he kills State Alchemists. One hand was slightly opened, opening more little by little the closer it got to the target.

 _Is he… Going to kill the panda!? Oh my god! May, please please_ please _turn back!_ Elena looked at May pleadingly, hoping to get her attention. She literally felt her heart hammer against her chest.

Luckily, May turned back, looking at Scar with a hint of curiosity. To Elena's relief, Scar had stopped reaching towards the panda. His whole arm hung in the air, exposing his muscles and the black tattoo.

 _Whoa…_ Elena thought, staring at the tattoos. She was amazed at how detailed and precise the tattoo looked. Sure, it looked detailed in the anime. But looking at the actual tattoo in front of her made her realize how meticulous it was. Lots of lines and different designs overlapped each other. There were even some words on the tattoo, but Elena couldn't figure them out.

May must've noticed the tattoo as well. She backed up towards Scar's arm, her dark eyes not budging away one bit.

"Wait… Your arm.." May mumbled while backing up. She then stopped and scanned it more. "That's alkahestry, right? The art of reading the Dragon's Pulse…"

 _Dragon Pulse?_ Elena cocked her head a bit. She nearly giggled. _Wait, isn't that a Pokemon move?_

Elena then shook her head a bit. _Don't be silly! It doesn't have to be just Pokemon!_

May continued, "Knowing the power that flows through the ground and how to use it? That tattoo matches the flow of alkahestry used in my homeland!"

Elena was totally lost at what May said.

Scar then lowered his arm. It was quite dramatic, especially since he lowered it very slowly. He looked at May and gruffly responded, "My brother was a student of alchemy and alkahestry, and conducted a great deal of research to both fields." He glanced at his tattoo. "The tattoo that I bear was a result of that research…"

 _Oh really?_ Elena blinked. Then, she suddenly questioned, "But… Then why is it on _your_ arm, and not on your brother's?"

Scar immediately looked down at his lap. An abrupt cold expression took over.

Elena mentally gulped. _Oh crap. I think I went too personal on that…_

Scar tersely answered, "I consider that to be personal…" His voice remained stoic, but his downcast eyes were gleaming. They revealed some sort of sadness and grief. Something that's too close to probe. Something that would distraught him for a while.

Elena just simply nodded in understandment.

 _Don't wanna put him in a even worse mood now…_ she thought.

"Well…" May gleefully exclaimed, clapping her two tiny hands together, "That's incredible! Your brother must've really been something!"

Scar continued gazing downwards. He didn't respond, or even showed any regard of May's comment. He looked remorseful.

 _Something must've happened to his brother…_ Elena thought glumly. She suddenly felt bad for the Ishvalan. Even though he's a mass murderer at this point, he was still human.

May and Xiao-Mei both blinked in confusion upon receiving no response from Scar. They stared at him, hoping to get some sort of reply back.

Yoki broke the silence, "I don't know what you are talking about…"

May and Elena both looked at the shorter man.

 _Same, Yoki…_ Elena thought.

Yoki then grinned and shrugged, "But your wounds are healed, sir. We can be on our ways to set out without any further delays!"

May clapped her hands together again, and eagerly replied, "Oh, that sounds great! Let me go get my things!" She dashed to her lavender-colored stash, which was just a few feet away from the trio.

 _She just reminded me of Mabel Pines…_ Elena thought with an amused grin.

Yoki peered at the girl with a exasperated expression. "What do you think you're doing, kid? Didn't he told you two to shove off once you're healed? We're not exactly going to Central for a picnic, you know."

May turned back with a determined look. "I know! But I meant what I told you!"

Yoki looked down at May with that same smug smile of his. "Oh, you mean that immortality stuff you were spouting about earlier?" Lifting his arms up in another shrug, he stated, "There's no such thing! Only a fool would believe such nonsense!"

May quickly stood up, scooping up her satchel. She nearly startled Elena when she squealed, "Yes there is! And I came to find it!" Xiao-Mei was clenching her sharp teeth at Yoki while May retaliated back.

Yoki irritably pointed a scrawny finger at the girl. "Oh, shut up! Kids don't know anything!"

Xiao-Mei then reached over and chomped on the man's pointed finger.

 _Holy crap!_ Elena thought, her eyes widening in shock and amusement. Her mouth was agape in a wide smile, a giggle escaped as she watched Yoki howl in what seemed to be immense pain. _He got what we deserved after all! Heh… "Kids don't know anything…" What does he-_

All of a sudden, she felt her heart beat, harshly. It thumped once powerfully. Her chest then ached, and her migraine returned. The migraine felt much worse than before. It felt like her head was on the verge of exploding.

Her vision started to blur. Multiple colors vanished, or appeared fuzzy. Then, a totally new vision took over.

" _Are you the one…?" A mysterious voice echoed. It sounded like a monotone male's voice._

 _Blue alchemy sparks shot up in the darkness. Red alchemy sparks followed, clashing into the blue ones. It eventually ate up the blue sparks, as more and more appeared._

 _A swish of pale blonde hair._

" _Are you the one that I summoned_?" _the mysterious voice continued._

 _There were explosions everywhere. Alchemic explosions, sparks continuing to fly all over the place._

 _Golden eyes took over her vision, piercing through her very soul. Golden eyes so ancient, so wisdomly, so… Lifeless. So empty, so emotionless._

 _Who knew such a lively color could be so dull and dead?_

" _Come to me…" the voice boomed._

 _Elena did not like the way he said that._

 _More explosions. Then, there was screaming. It sounded so high-pitched. Someone was in grievous pain._

 _Another swish of blonde hair. This time, it was darker and healthier-looking._

 _Then, a pale-white palm took her vision. The hand was opened up, inching closer and closer towards her face_

" _Share with me your power…" the voice echoed._

 _The opened hand was getting so close to Elena's face. She could practically see the lines of the person's palm. Even more screaming blazed through the area of darkness._

 _Suddenly, red sparks blew right in front of her face. More screaming. More voices. More explosions._

 _This was hell._

" _... Hey! Elena! Are you okay?" a voice called out._

Elena felt two hands seize and shake her shoulders. A girl's voice worriedly begged, "Elena! Please! Are you okay!?" It was May.

Elena opened her eyes. Her lungs felt like she was drowning in a pool, causing her to take heavy deep breaths. Her headache felt like it was subsiding, but it was still strong. She placed both hands on her head.

"My… Headache…" Elena groaned.

 _Who was that?_ Elena questioned. _And why again?_

May placed a hand on top of Elena's head. She closed her eyes for a few seconds. "Mmmh…"

She then opened her eyes and looked at Elena. "It's probably from waking up all of a sudden. You were passed out for a while when I found you, and you didn't eat for a long period. Wait one second. I'm going to draw up a circle for you."

May whipped out a chalk and her five kunais. She quickly scribbled a alkahestry transmutation circle, and placed the kunais in their respective places. She then wrapped an arm around Elena's sides and gently instructed, "Lay down slowly, and place your head right in the middle of the star."

With May's help, Elena was able to lay well on her back. Her head was laying right where May needed it to be. It still throbbed harshly.

May placed two hands on the circle, right near Elena's pounding head. The transmutation circle then glowed its normal blue hue.

Elena closed her eyes contently. She felt the same relaxing aura that she witnessed from the first alkahestry circle. She allowed herself to take in the calming presence of the active circle. Her headache melted away within each second.

The circle died down after a couple seconds. Elena opened her eyes. She, once again, felt refreshed. Her headache was totally gone. She felt more energized.

She sat up and rubbed her head.

"How do you feel?" May asked.

Elena looked at May sincerely. "I feel a lot better now. Thank you!"

Elena then tried to stand up. Surprisingly, she didn't stumble. If anything, she felt even more better standing up. She stretched her arms out, as if she was waking up on a relaxing morning.

 _What was that?_ Elena thought back to that weird flashback.

Elena heard Yoki hushedly ask Scar, "What was that about?"

Elena turned back to look at the two men. Scar, still perched against the wall, simply shrugged.

Yoki glanced at the girls. With a look of doubt and a bit of disgust, he asked, "So… What do we do with these two?"

Scar looked at the two girls. Closing his eyes, he stated, "Suit yourself, girls…" without any traces of malice.

Elena gasped. With a playful grin, she asked, "So… You're fine with us tagging along?"

"Suit yourself…" Scar repeated. He then stood up. "However…" He looked directly at the two girls. May turned around to look at him.

"You two must keep up with us," Scar insisted. "Understood?"

May nodded eagerly. She then grinned at Elena, obviously glad to travel with some other people.

Elena returned a smile.

 _How long do I have here? Until I wake up?_ She ominously thought back to that vision she had with her migraine. _I don't know if I want to know what that weird vision was about, though..._

 **A/N: So I've been recently getting into PS4 games. Naughty Dog games in particular. I've been playing both of their games. I can't believe I stumbled on a character that has my OC's name in their games xD Both of their games actually lol; Ellie from The Last of Us, and Elena Fischer from the Uncharted series. I sincerely love both of these girls from the games.**

 **Anyone wanna recommend me some PS4 games? :T I'm still playing the two Naughty Dog games but I would still like a stable list.**

 **Anyways, thank you so much for reading, once again! If you see anything odd, please let me know lol. Chances are I probably was focusing too much on the other factors of the chapter. That, and I wanna improve as a writer!**

 **Next chapter would be some original plot thing to fill in the gaps of the days in the episode. Can't wait to write it out lol**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I am so so** ** _so_** **sorry for the wait, guys :/ I've been in a pretty hectic, emotional roller coaster for the past few months and all. My motivation was drained out, sadly as I worked on this chapter on and off during these months. Someone very close had passed away in my family, and ever since, it's been, once again, hectic - lots of emotional stuff and all. But you're not here for my dramatic mess; you're here for the next chapter! ^^**

 **I really thought about you guys a lot. I thought of all of those that reviewed, followed, and favorite my story. I actually** **received** **a follow on this story about a week ago, and it really shocked me that up to now, people were still interested in this story :o It really warms my heart that you support my story, a story that started from hours of thought at 3am. You guys - my readers - are what keeps me moving the most. You guys inspire me to write the best that I can for the story. I'm grateful to know that I have some lovely readers out there ;w; Thank you so much.**

 **Also, a big shoutout to my friend "a Mysterious Illusion" for** **continuously aiding me with my story, with all her suggestions and criticisms that makes the story truly what it is. I probably won't be uploading it if it weren't for her.**

 **Anyways, this chapter ended up going overboard... again ;; I really wanted to flesh out not only Elena, but also our trio (May, Yoki, Scar). It was pretty difficult at first. Scar wasn't that bad, but it was mainly Yoki and May, as we don't get enough screen time of them. To me, their characters in the show are kinda flat most of the times. I hope I did them some justice in this chapter.**

 **I had a bunch of ideas for this particular chapter. Mainly, though, I was writing out the scene at the end.** **Unfortunately** **, it ended up being really long so I decided to split it.**

 **Enough of my rambling, hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

" _You two must keep up with us," Scar insisted. "Understand?"_

After a couple minutes, they had gotten out of the shabby place. The sun was a bright yellow hue, indicating that it was an early morning. The air was a bit crisp. But after moving around for a couple minutes, Elena found herself contently adjusted to it. That, and her outfit made it suitable for the temperature. Other to that, the sun was out for the entire day. Thin, snow-white clouds hung above with the bright blue sky.

So far, the group had done nothing but walk. They've walked through many places. There were some places that were barren and empty. Houses and buildings would be vacant. Some were even breaking apart, either little by little or drastically. Some places looked like a bloody war had taken place. It was later revealed by Scar that those places were once Ishvalan refugee hideouts. During the war, Ishvalan refugees seemed shelter away from the prejudice and war. Sadly, most of them were ravaged by Amestrians, whether they were soldiers or not. To Elena's relief, she hasn't seen any blood, or worse - dead bodies. She hopes to keep it that way.

Whenever they walked through the hideouts and abandoned towns, Scar always surveyed the town for possible survivors, or anything else that would benefit the group. They haven't found people, to his dismay. But they've found some more canned food, and other essentials they thought would help them.

"At least you guys got more food!" May chirped in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Scar had a grave expression as he handed Yoki some of the canned goods for him to pack.

"I pray to God that all of them made it out safely…" Scar mumbled as he gave Yoki the canned contents.

Elena looked around. The place, like all the other Ishvalan hideouts, looked beaten down. But despite all the chaotic mess, crumbling houses, and cluttered roads, there wasn't a whiff or glimpse of any dead or decaying bodies. There wasn't even any shed of blood. It looked like everyone had suddenly vanished from their tumbling hideouts.

Elena took in a deep breath and shot Scar a reassuring grin. She was very sure that most people - if not, everyone - were able to escape safely. She saw the emptiness of these places as a good thing.

Before they would leave, Scar would always kneel down and chant a final prayer. Every prayer would always start with "In the name of God," and then a flurry of hushed sentences and even hymns. Elena would sometimes pick up some words she would not understand. There were other words that would sound too bizarre and complicated to even be English, or sounded like a totally different language, much similar to a Middle Eastern language.

 _Whoa, hold on…_ Elena's eyes widened as she realized, _Is that Ishbalan? They have their own language?_ _I didn't even know..._

Other than that, watching Scar offer his prayers throughout the walks were quite intriguing. To Elena, it showed the calmer and more affectionate side of Scar. In the anime, she was used to seeing him as stoic, murdering anyone that stood in his way. Right now, in front of the girl, he's the opposite of that brutal man; he cares and loves his people deeply. He just wants the best for them. Seeing him like this makes him seem a lot more human than he was in the anime. Elena was actually starting to feel a lot less fearful of him because of this.

When the group left one of the Ishvalan hideouts, a thought occurred to Elena.

 _So, since I'm now in Amestris… Does that mean that I'm speaking in Amestrian?_ Elena wondered. She furrowed her brow a bit as she continued, _Amestris is based off of Germany, yet it sounds like I'm speaking to them in English. Am I actually speaking to them in the Amestrian language without even knowing? Or am I still talking in English?_

She shook her head in confusion, her hair swishing along the sides. She concluded that she may never know.

She looked to her left. There, she saw some tall buildings. They were quite distant, as they were just a grey blur to Elena. Those buildings were part of Central - they were getting closer to the city. It had just required a couple days of walking.

 _I hope my track meets and taekwondo lessons helps me out with this…_ Elena thought to herself. _Walking for two days straight won't be that hard... Hopefully._

She then paused for a bit. _But anyways….. I should wake up after this day, too._

Other places - which was just a few towns that they encountered - were bustling with people. In these tiny towns, there were more developed buildings and houses. Even from far away, the group could hear people, cars, and even trains inside each town. They were all so lively and even colorful, even if one couldn't see any of the towns.

Strangely, the Ishvalan and even Yoki had insisted on avoiding these people. They scurried through the least busiest parts of towns, or even straight out avoided the town itself by walking around it. Not only that, but both men always wandered through these places with their hoodies over their heads.

"So…" Elena started, looking at Yoki as they dashed around the corners of their third town. There were a few houses and stores in the area, but it was still considered vacant to them. "What's with all the skulking around? Why are we avoiding people?"

May then turned around to Elena and Yoki. She was trailing just behind Scar, who led the group silently. She piped in, "Yeah, why _are_ we avoiding people?"

Yoki looked at the two girls, a surprised scowl masking his face. "What? You don't know why we're doing this? We're in hiding!"

May innocently cocked her head to the side. "In hiding? For what?"

"I can't really see what _we_ did wrong…" Elena agreed, crossing her arms.

She then looked straight ahead at Scar. He was still wordlessly walking forward, his straight, toned back faced against the trio behind him, as if he didn't hear a thing.

 _Actually… I kind of see why now…._ she thought, peering at the Ishvalan's back.

Scar had momentarily stopped, which caused the others to stop as well. There were two paths that laid ahead of Scar. One of them, full of colorful and glamorous stores and services, broke off to a sharp left. Another path, with some houses here and there, continued in a straight direction.

"This is why you brats should've left when we said so! Are you both not aware of us?" Yoki asked in his usual scorning tone, while Scar was hastily deciding where to go. Elena was starting to get used to Yoki's tone at this point, but she still rolled her eyes. "Well…" He glanced at May and pointed. "You, I'm not surprised but…" He looked at Elena. "How could _you_ not know about us? The news of us was practically everywhere, especially in newspapers! Don't you live in this country?"

Scar started trudging towards the path with the houses. Elena could see why he would choose that path; she could hardly see anyone there. That, and everyone would either be out in town, or in their houses.

"Wait…" May paused for a second upon realization, "You're from this country?" Her small, nearly non-existent eyebrows furrowed in uncertainty as they started to walk. Elena's own eyebrows had momentarily lifted in surprise as well; she forgot that May actually have eyebrows. "I thought you were from Xing! You have some Xingese features!"

 _Xing…_ Elena mused internally. She remembered the others mentioning the country from time to time. She quickly assumed, and was later proven right, that Xing was similar to an Eastern Asian country. The way May dressed, along with her panda friend and her subtle accent, had proven it enough.

She then realized something: She hadn't told any of them where she came from.

 _Oh man! I forgot about this!_ Elena thought to herself. She had been anticipating the moment when someone in the group would ask her that. She knew that they would wonder about her ethnicity some point, especially since the group is diverse itself. But she wasn't expecting it to be so soon.

 _What to do, what to do?_ Elena questioned herself. Now that they've asked her, she had to elaborate some type of story for them. On one hand, she could make up some story about her parents. She could pretend that her parents were from Xing, but moved to Amestris. However, she hardly knows anything about Amestris. Xing was another different concept to her. It would be extremely obvious if she was caught lying. On the other hand, she could just plainly state that she lives in America, and that her parents were from Vietnam. Heck, she didn't even have to mention about her parent's origin; she could just claim they were all from America. Even though the others would have no idea what she would be babbling about, it would sound believable since she would actually be stating the facts. She would just have to use some knowledge with a pinch of lies. But not as much lies as she would need for the former story.

"Well, actually…" Elena started with a wide beam. Yoki and May stared at her with interest. She even caught Scar glancing across his shoulder at her, his scarlet eyes never ceasing to pierce her.

Elena took in a quick, deep breath. She made a decision.

 _I hope to the lord that this works…_ she thought. She was eager and anxious of how her story would turn out.

After what felt like a few seconds, she announced, "I'm from neither of those places."

Yoki was the first to react. In mild disbelief, he spat, "What? You really aren't from any of those places?"

Elena shook her head, her hair swishing from side to side. "Nope, nope."

"Then… Where are you from?" May asked curiously. Xiao-Mei made a mewling sound, curling up on May's shoulder as she did so.

Elena pointed a finger at herself as they kept walking, "I'm from America."

 _This should be interesting…_ she thought to herself.

May gave Elena a weary look, confusion written all over her round face. "You're from... A-mur-eek-ah?"

Elena constrained a giggle at how May butchered the name of the country. She then explained, "It's America." She slowly pronounced it one by one, " Ah-mer-ick-ah."

"You're telling me that's an actual country? Oh please!" Elena nearly glared at Yoki as he scoffed, crossing his arms. He then challenged, "If this country is real, then why haven't I heard of it?"

"Well…" Elena hummed to herself.

 _Damn, he got me…_ She thought to herself. He really did backed her up in a corner.

The street they've chosen to walk through was pretty quiet, compared to the other paths they have taken. Miniature two-story houses stood in rows across the street, each accompanied with a small garden and a driveway stuffed with at least one car. Some of the house's windows were open by a bit more than a crack. The doors, on the other hand were shut tightly, and no one was outside. There were people that passed by here and there, but just barely. Overall, the place was considerably less active.

Then, an idea ignited in her head. "Oh! Actually, America, along with other countries, aren't on the maps of some countries. I know that Amestris is one of those countries. And I guess uhhh," she glanced at May, "Sing? Ching?"

This time, it was May's turn to giggle at Elena's tardy pronunciations, "It's _Xing_. It has a bit of a 'z' sound at the beginning."

"Alright," Elena nodded thankfully, "So anyways, I'm assuming _Xing_ doesn't have America on their maps?"

May shook her head.

"I see…" Elena replied. "There are, um, a lot of reasons why America isn't on some of the other countries' maps."

May looked immensely intrigued. She was about to say something, until Yoki interrupted her. He scoffed again, "I've never heard of that! You know, you're a really strange girl-"

"Actually…" Elena, May, Xiao-Mei, and Yoki all turned their attention towards Scar. The Ishvalan, who was extremely quiet for the entire walk through the town, had now stopped walking. He looked straight at the three of them. "While my brother was studying alchemy, he went through some countries that did not practice alchemy at all. I remember him saying something about that country not having it, mainly due to the fact that those countries are highly advanced in technology, compared to this country. Some of these countries aren't even on the map for, as Elena stated, various reasons…"

Elena grinned. She didn't know whether Scar was backing her up, or if that was actually true. Either way, it helped her. "Yeah… That's basically it. I know a bunch of other countries around mine that doesn't do alchemy. Alchemy is actually a dead concept in my place."

"Really?" May squeaked, her mouth hanging open in surprise.

Scar then turned forward and started trudging, as if he never had a conversation with any of them.

 _What a mysterious man…_ Elena thought somberly.

"What about alkahestry?" May asked as she and Elena started to walk.

"Well… I've never even heard of alkahestry, until you mentioned it earlier…" Elena answered, thinking back to when she was healing Scar.

"Wow…" May gaped. "Does that mean that your country had advanced medical treatments?"

"Uh, sure," Elena answered.

 _I mean, it isn't a lie…_ she thought to herself. Compared to so many other countries out there, her home place was up there. Not only that, but there were an abundance of people who were there to give aid towards those who needed it medically. They've reached so far in the development of medical care.

 _But come to think of it…_ Elena suddenly thought. Seeing May's alkahestry close up was something. May had successfully healed a wound that would've taken a day or two to heal with some bandages and ointment. Yet, with alkahestry, it took just a few seconds for the wound to completely close up.

 _That was amazing…_ Elena mused as she thought of the scene. _But… does that meant that Amestris is more advanced than America?_

After a few seconds of thinking, Elena concluded, _Nah. Amestris doesn't have the technology that we have. They definitely don't have the phones and laptops that my place has._

The atmosphere was less overwhelming, especially since the group was touring through the resident zone of the town. Since there was less people around them, Elena was able to stretch out a bit more, without worrying about bumping into someone. The atmosphere was also much more cleaner - there was not a glance of litter within the smooth streets. Those walking by would be able to breathe well.

"Anyways…" Elena started. She walked up to Yoki. She still needed to ask him about something earlier on. Not only that, but she still had that nagging feel from him. She feels that she heard of him, or even knows him. Facing him to his left, she asked, "Why are we in hiding? What did _you_ do?"

"Oh, you _still_ want to know about that?" Yoki asked with that same smug smile of his, "Well too bad! I'm not gonna tell you!"

"Wha-" Elena exclaimed. She was flabbergasted.

"You'll have to figure that out yourself!" Yoki persisted with a unfitting cheeky expression, "Don't worry! It won't be hard! You can look through newspapers and listen to others!" Elena then heard him whisper to himself, " _Hopefully!_ "

"Yoki, please…" Elena groaned, resisting the urge to facepalm. "Why bother going through all of that when I have _you_? That'll make my life ten times easier."

Yoki snickered. It was just as haughty as his words. "That's very true! But I don't feel like it."

"Master Yoki!" May pouted in a shrilling voice. Xiao-Mei was bearing her tiny, sharp fangs on May's shoulder.

 _Master Yoki?_ Elena echoed mentally. She stifled a snort as May continued, "That's not fair though! Elena told you about herself! You should also tell her about yourself!"

Yoki twisted his direction to May. "Oh, please! She just babbled more about the country she was from than about herself!"

"She still told you about herself, at least!" May retaliated, a frown assembling on her round face.

"Yeah, Yoki, she really has a point," Elena confirmed with a smirk. "And I didn't ask you to 'look through newspapers and listen to others!'"

"Well…" Yoki trailed off, as if he had nothing to retort. Elena and May shared a brief victory grin until Yoki repeated, "But you talked mainly about your country, not about yourself!"

"Are you for real?" Elena muttered, looking at the short man to her right in mild disbelief. "What kind of excuse is-"

She abruptly felt something sturdy slam in front of her. She let out a startled "oof!" as her left cheek, sides, and arm collide into the object. From the corner of her eye, she made out a moss color. She attempted to sneak a further glimpse at the thing she bumped into…

Only to realize that the thing she bumped into was actually a _person_.

It was Scar. She had crashed straight into his muscular back without looking in front of her.

Scar twisted his neck to get a view of whoever dared to bump into him. A single red eye questioningly peered down at Elena. Elena quickly recoiled from his back, embarrassed and slightly flustered at herself. Pain flared up on her cheek and arm, but she quickly dismissed it. She squeaked an apology, "Oh my gosh, I am _so_ sorry!"

She resisted the urge to glower at Yoki's snickering, and attempted to maintain her gaze at Scar. She flashed him a smile that matched her words.

Scar did his signature grunt before turning back. It wasn't gruff and malicious, but rather light with a bit of a hum. It was his usual grunt of acknowledgment.

He stood there, without doing anything. From what Elena and the others thought, he was just looking forward.

"Huh? Why did we stop?" May questioned as she and Elena peeped through Scar's sides.

"It's a dead end…" Scar answered monotonously.

He was right; there was a grand, single house with a lengthy driveway and a large garden standing a couple feet in front of them. Unless if the group were to cut through their backyard, they couldn't continue going straight.

Scar turned to his left, the trio behind him following his gaze. There was a road that guided them more through the town. Luckily, another street of houses laid parallel to the current street they were on. After the other road was the busier part of town.

"We're gonna have to go through that street," he continued, motioning to it. He then made his way to the street, the group following suit. They all crossed over to the other side.

Elena felt her stomach rumble in protest.

 _Again?_ She thought as she placed a palm on her stomach. It was the third time that it happened since she found herself in the country of alchemy. The second time it growled was a few hours after they left that house she woke up in. She had to get Yoki to spare her another canned good. This time, it was a can of carrots. Like the first time, she had found herself hungrily chowing down the food.

Elena sighed. _I don't wanna ask for another can. No one has even gotten hungry, yet here am I, getting hungry yet again._ She looked down at her feet while walking. She was wearing a pair of moccasins. When she walked out of the crumbling house, she had realized that she wasn't wearing any shoes. She had on a fuzzy pair of pastel-pink socks. It was picking up a lot of grime on the floor, to her disgust. In one of the Ishvalan hideouts, Scar had stumbled on a house full of shoes. They found a pair of chocolate-brown moccasins. It wasn't the comfiest pair of shoes, and the pair was a size bigger. But with her socks, she was able to work with it.

 _Why am I getting hungry like this?_ Elena wondered. _This isn't like me, to be starving like this all the time. Maybe this country's food isn't really filling?_

She didn't want to beg Yoki for another can. First, she relented the idea of begging to someone like Yoki. And secondly, she didn't want to seem greedy or burdenful. She already ate two of their canned food. They probably worked hard for their food, especially at their rate of avoiding socialization.

Elena sighed yet again.

"Are you okay?" Elena heard May ask. "You've been sighing quite a lot."

Elena looked at the Xingese. She warmly answered, "Yeah. Don't worry about me! I'm just kinda…" The last word was hardly a whisper as she shyly finished, "Hungry."

Yoki sharply turned around. "What? _Again?_ You ate _two_ of our canned food!"

Elena shrugged. "They're probably not that filling."

"Actually…" May confessed, twiddling her fingers. "I'm hungry, too."

Yoki tiredly sighed. "Now we have _two_ hungry people."

Suddenly, a loud sound emitted from Yoki's direction. It sounded like a stomach howling for food. Elena and May both stared at Yoki; he was hungry as well.

Scar turned to face to the trio. He gruffly explained, "I managed to scrape out some Amestrian coins at some of the hideouts. You guys can buy something for yourselves."

May's eyes widened. "Wow! Really? But…" her face melted into a dejected expression. "Don't you have barely enough? Not enough at all?"

"It'll be fine. I'll just eat the canned food," Scar solemnly answered.

 _Whoa…_ Elena thought, her eyes glimmering. _Is he… Actually looking out for us? Two girls that just joined for shits and giggles? Well…_ She looked at May. _She's on an important… Mission. I'm the only one here for the shits and giggles._

"Don't get the wrong idea; we're not doing you two an act of kindness. We won't be responsible for you when you faint from hunger again." Yoki drawled.

 _Way to ruin the mood…_ Elena thought, rolling her eyes.

Yoki saw her rolling her eyes and grinned. "Oh, don't be like that. It's the truth!" He turned to Scar. "Right?"

Scar's eyes narrowed, his jaw tightening. His face was overall set into a tight scowl. _It was terrifying._

May seemed unfazed. Elena got chills running down her spine. And Yoki flailed away for his dear life.

Scar dug his hand in his pocket and then took it out in a fist. He unclenched it, revealing a pile of coins. He walked towards Elena, relaxing his hand in a cupping position for the coins.

"Here," he gestured for her to lift her hands. Elena complied, lifting both of her hands in a cupping motion. Scar poured the coins into her dainty hands. Coins of copper and silver landed in her hands, weighing it down a bit. "Try to use as little as you can," Scar told her as he relinquished the coins.

"Thanks," Elena said. She glanced down at the coins. They were a little more than a handful. She scooped some of them in another hand and motioned it to May. "Can you hold some of those for me?"

"Okay!" May chirped as she accepted the handful of coins. She quickly placed them in her lavender bag. She turned to Yoki. "Anything you want?"

"Just get me some sandwich," Yoki answered carelessly.

"Okay!" May cheerfully repeated.

"There are some stores straight ahead there," Scar pointed forwards. "Go ahead of us. We'll wait right here."

 _But why would-_ Elena thought. But then she realized who Scar was.

The two girls nodded in response. May then exclaimed, "Come on, Elena!" and grabbed her arm. She darted ahead with Elena in tow.

 _Oh my god, she runs so fast!_ Elena thought. She felt the wind scrape her face, nearly causing her eyes to tear up. Her hair whipped back, fluttering in the air. Her legs didn't ache, however; not yet, at least. All the houses they rushed by seemed like a bunch of bright, colorful blurs.

"So!" May exclaimed as both her and Xiao-Mei looked at Elena, dark orbs peering into brown orbs. "Do you mind if I call you Ellie?"

 _Ellie…_

Instantly, Mack appeared in her head. That silly, sly, science-lover of her best friend, had always taken the opportunity to call her that, his icy-blue eyes crinkling with amusement to the girl's embarrassment; it was one thing when someone in her family called her that, but a friend like Mack was another story. Deep down, Elena knew that he would call for that as a sign of affection, since they were friends for years. After all, he is one of the only few outside her family allowed to call her that. And out of the few others, he was the one who constantly referred to her as "Ellie."

"Uhhh…" Elena could only mustered. She felt her cheeks flare up.

"Hmm?" May tiled her head as they continued to dash. "You're blushing… You don't like that name? I'm sorry!"

"Huh? Oh!" Elena waved her free hand with reassurance as she replied, "Oh, no! Err... My family - yes, my family! - had always called me that! It makes me feel really young."

It wasn't really a lie. Her parents still persisted in calling her "Ellie," or by her Vietnamese family name at home.

 _Now that I think of it… They rarely call me by my first name…_ Elena thought briefly.

"Anyways…." Elena continued, grinning sweetly, "Uh, yeah! You can call me that! I won't mind!"

"Ok!" May beamed.

The girls had now reached the busiest part of the town.

 _Whoa… They really weren't exaggerating when they said all the towns are busy…_ Elena thought to herself as she looked around. There was a large sea of people that stretched from miles and miles on. There were some raven-heads and brunettes here and there. Heck, there were even some red-haired people. But there were especially a myriad of blondes. They were basically everywhere. And it wasn't just one common shade of it; there were many shades and forms of it. From strawberry-blonde, to pale blonde. From blonde as bright as the sun, to blonde as dark as honey. There was straight blonde hair, and there was curly blonde hair. Blonde hair in braids, in ponytails, and loosed down.

 _I've never seen so many blondes in one place…_ Elena thought. Where she lived, blondes weren't so rare. But they also weren't common.

May abruptly stopped. Elena nearly bumped into her back. She scurried backwards a few steps while still holding on to May's tiny palm.

"Where should we go?" May asked aloud as she looked ahead at the stores. All of them had colorful signs and menus at the top.

Elena squinted her eyes to get a good view. All she saw were blurs of colors. She could hardly see any letters, as they all look like streaks of black.

"Hey, May? Can we go a bit closer?" Elena asked, "I can't really read the signs from here."

"Sure!" May complied. Still holding on to Elena's palm, she lightly pulled it forward. They maneuvered around a couple group of people here and there.

They were then a couple feet away from the food stands. Elena leaned forward and stared at the signs.

"Hmm…" Elena grimaced. She still couldn't see the signs. They all look like a mush of colors combined in different shapes of rectangles and squares. She saw some words, but they were all unreadable to her. Even if she squinted as hard as she could, they all seem like splashes of paint on a canvas.

Her hand reached to her face to adjust her glasses. She felt the tips of her fingers touch the bridge of her nose and the cheeks underneath her eyes.

 _Oh my god…_ she thought, her eyes widening in realization.

She isn't wearing her glasses. Neither is she wearing her contact lenses.

 _How can I forget about that?_ She mentally facepalmed. She glanced at May. She was going to have to tell her that she couldn't read the signs at all. She felt somewhat humiliated to ask a younger girl like May to read for her.

 _How am I going to tell her this?_ Elena questioned. She was deciding on whether she should bluntly tell May she's near-sighted and blind, or tell her that she couldn't read the language. Heck, she didn't know _how_ the Amestrian alphabet was like. Hopefully, it would be the same alphabet as the one she grew up with.

Elena took a deep breath. "Hey, May?"

May turned back. "Yes Ellie?"

"I'm blind."

* * *

Eventually, they had settled on a sandwich, just to save time, and also because Yoki wanted something there. Elena ended up ordering a grilled cheese sandwich with some tiny shrimps in it. It was a bit too oily for a grilled cheese sandwich, but it was satisfying. May got herself a regular turkey sandwich, and got another one for Yoki and Scar. Scar had refused it, but held onto it for later on.

They continued walking through various towns for hours. They've talked of various things while walking. It was mainly May and Elena who talked. Elena talked more about her family. She talked about her loving parents and twin brother, Morgan. May talked about her place. Elena was shocked to learn that May was actually a princess of a clan. Her mother died long ago, and her father is a king that could care less about her and her withering clan. Her other siblings were sprinkled throughout the country, and they were all bitter enemies. She, along with other siblings, are trying to obtain the Philosopher's Stone for royal wealth and advancement. May was determined to get it for her clan. Despite that, Elena felt extremely bad for the girl.

The sun slowly dipped downwards through the sky. The sky turned into a tropical-like pink-orange color, while the sun changed into a soft yet sharp orange. The clouds were the colors of soft tangerines and greys. The scene was breathtaking, especially out of town.

By the peak of the sunset, they found themselves in yet another abandoned Ishvalan refugee town. There were a bunch of white-brick buildings and houses. They were in the middle of the town, which was a round, spacious area. _This area reminds me of that Castle Town in Ocarina of Time…_ Elena thought with a soft smirk. The middle of the area would've been big enough for the fountain.

"E-Excuse me?" Elena suddenly heard a gentle male voice call from her rear-right side.

She turned around to the source of the voice. From an alleyway behind her, a man emerged from the darkness, wearing black clothing.

 _Holy shit!_ Elena jumped back. _I hardly noticed him!_ She squinted her eyes, attempting to get a closer look at the man.

The man was slim. His eyes, hair, and clothing were all black, making it a stark contrast from his milky complexion. He was garbed with a dark, flowy fighting robe of sorts. A scarlet-colored bandana was tied around his wide forehead.

 _Wait a second…._ Elena thought through squinted eyes. _Those robes…_

She quickly glanced at May. Even though she was trying her very best to constrain it, she was glaring kunais at the mysterious man. Scar, looming above her from behind, look at the man with suspicion.

"I never thought I'd meet people in this area!" the man exclaimed, stepping out of the darkness. His side-swept bangs fluttered in the breeze as he moved, making his equally dark eyes more noticeable. A friendly grin was plastered to his face. He inched up closer to Elena and Yoki, who were the closest to the alley. Elena instinctively, but subtly, took a step back.

"What are you doing here?" Elena heard Scar ask. Even though she wasn't looking at him, she could imagine that suspicious look growing even more confused.

The man looked at Scar's direction. "Those eyes…" He then took a step closer to Yoki and looked at Scar's direction. His almond-shaped eyes widened. "Oh! You're an Ishvalan!"

"That's right…" Scar slowly answered.

"Interesting…" The man smiled. "I think you're the first Ishvalan I've ever seen."

"And… Who are you?" Yoki asked.

The man looked at Yoki, taking yet another step closer. Elena noticed him lifting his arms at a slow pace. "My name is-"

Suddenly a kunai - _May's_ kunai - had flown from Elena's left straight towards the man. The kunai pierced through the man's upper head. Blood gushed out from his head, and he fell to his left on the ground.

Elena glanced down at the man, and immediately paled. A hand covered her gaping mouth as nausea suddenly took over.

 _Oh my god…_ she thought.

Blood was streaming out at both sides of the man's head like a gushing waterfall. The tip of the kunai stuck out from his head. It was coated with thick, dripping layers of blood and something… Chunky; Elena had no desire of wanting to know what it was. His whole body laid still and unflinching; she saw no signs of breathing.

The scene was grotesque.

She was literally staring down at a fresh, bleeding corpse.

And he was killed by the hands of none other than little May. She couldn't comprehend it.

Her eyes trailed down to his arms. She saw something glimmering from the sleeve of his robes. She leaned a bit closer to it.

It was a dagger. He was about to assassinate Yoki, and probably her after him. Even though it was a dream for her, it would still be frightening to be murdered so brutally.

She stared back at the man's face. Chills ran down her spine. Dream or not, the corpse looked so _real._ She never thought she would be staring down at an actual corpse. She saw bunches of them in different shows, games, and movies. They all never fazed her. She felt that she understood when she now witnessed someone die in front of her.

"Ellie! Look out!" She heard May scream. Her reality came back to her. She snapped her gaze away from the corpse, turning straight towards the dark alley. Something glimmering and grey was flying straight towards her. She couldn't tell if it was a kunai or a dagger, but it was definitely something shiny and pointy.

She sidestepped to her right, bumping into a clueless Yoki.

"Ow!" She yelped. She suddenly felt a blazing pain on her left arm. After recovering from her sidestep, she quickly scanned her arm.

There was a tear on the sleeve of her beloved sweater. The wide tear was exposing her arm, which now had a cut. It wasn't really wide or deep. Blood was seeping out from the gash, but just barely, as the cut had a little tear. It stung, but not extremely badly. That weapon had barely got her; it grazed her arm badly. Elena whispered a cuss for her klutziness and mistake as she glanced back at the alley.

She felt a warm presence to her left, and then heard some alkahestry sounds. A bunch of spikes shot up from her left towards the alley. The sound of pierced flesh filled Elena's ears. Elena winced at the sound.

A body then tumbled forward. The body fell flat on their face to the ground, blood scattering on the ground around it. Short, fluffy black hair was sprawled all around the person's face. There were various of torned holes on the robes. Even though the robes were the same black color, the massive streams of blood were still visible.

Elena felt so nausea upon looking at the body.

"Are you ok?" Elena heard May quickly ask. She felt a tiny palm lightly grasp her wounded arm. She looked towards her left and saw May examining her wound. "Does it hurt?"

"A little bit…" Elena admitted with a weak smile, "Don't worry about it, though. I'll survive."

May nodded. "Okay. It doesn't look too bad. I promise, I'll heal it later on." Her attention shifted to the two corpses. Her expression became stony. "I have some business to attend to."

She scurried to the body with the holes, and crouched down next to it. She grabbed a handful of the corpse's hair and yanked it upwards, causing Elena to wince again.

The man was wearing that same red bandana.

"I knew it…" Elena heard May mutter to herself darkly, her back facing her. "They're part of the Wu clan!" She then sprung up on her feet. She turned around to face the trio. "You guys won't mind helping me?"

"They dared to trespass this refugee…" Scar spoke up, "I'll make them pay, for God." He looked at Elena. "Can you fight?"

Elena swiftly nodded, remembering her taekwondo lessons. She never thought she'd be using it to literally defend herself from malicious foes, until now. That, along with gaining some strength and diligence, was the reasons her parents encouraged her to take up a martial arts; God forbids she gets stuck with rowdy people and is left defenseless. Now, it was time for her to utilize those skills.

She gulped, remembering how May killed those two men with single moves.

 _Would I have to kill, too?_ She asked herself, an ominous chill taking over.

May took a couple steps forwards, slowly sinking in the darkness. "I sense three more people ahead!" And then in a lower voice, "And I sense Bojing…"

She then darted to the darkness.

"May!" Elena exclaimed. She and Scar immediately dashed towards the alley. Elena made sure to avoid the bodies and pools of blood ahead of her. She fought back her nausea as she was forced to look at the corpses.

"Wait! I can't fight!" Yoki cried.

"Just come!" Elena called back.

The three of them ran through the darkness together. They made a sharp left, ran straight, and then turned right. Elena nearly slammed into a wall when skidding to her right. She still felt a bit faint.

There was some light ahead of them; it was the gleams of the sunset. It got brighter and intense the closer they got to it.

 _Here we go…_ Elena mentally braced herself.

She was the first to emerge from the darkness, Scar and Yoki following suit. Scar stepped forward to Elena's left, and Yoki stayed behind.

May stood there, her long braids blowing against the wind, back facing Elena and Scar. Across from her stood four more men. Three men standing at the sides wore the same scarlet bandanas and black robes as the earlier two men they met. Two of them were wielding a glistening dagger, and the other one was holding…

 _A baseball bat?_ Elena's eyebrows furrowed. _Why is he using a baseball bat?_

The man in between those guards, standing in front of May, wore a lavish red robe with golden designs. His long, dark brown hair was tied in a loose ponytail. He seemed to be around the same age as Elena. A pair of dark eyes peered at the three new people that joined May.

"Ahh, I see you have made friends, _my dear little sister_ ," the man sneered. He gave each of them a gaze, starting with Yoki. "An Amestrian."

Yoki just "Tch"ed at the Xingese.

Bojing then looked at Scar. His eyes glimmered with interest upon realizing who he was. "Oh! You got an Ishvalan ally! How intriguing…"

Scar didn't muster a word; he just stared the Xingese down with his scarlet eyes.

"You've got some quiet friends so far, dear sister," Bojing muttered absentmindedly. His eyes trailed off to Elena, and he grinned. She felt herself recoil a bit at his stare.

"Well, then! You've got yourself a nice lady there!" He viciously remarked.

Elena constrained herself from rolling her eyes. But her burning cheeks betrayed her thoughts.

 _I don't like the way he said that…_ she thought.

"Wait…" Elena practically _felt_ the guy - Bojing Wu? - scan her deeply. "You're Xingese?"

 _Oh boy…_ Elena thought back of the earlier conversation about her country.

"You don't seem to be part of a royal clan…" the guy continued to muse. "Yet you have some Xingese features. Not all of them. Are you perhaps from a neighboring country?"

Elena was about to answer until Bojing went on, "Oh well. It's not of my concern. I am intrigued, though…"

Elena raised a concern eyebrow.

 _What does he want to do with me?_ she thought wearily. She never met guys like him.

"Leave her alone, Wu!" May spat, leaning forward. Xiao-Mei growled.

Bojing let out a guffaw. "Aw, are you worried about your _foreign friends_?"

Elena's jaw tightened at that remark.

"Look who's speaking…" she heard Yoki muttered underneath his breath. For once, she had to agree.

"It's not like they're gonna stick to you in the end," Bojing continued to taunt, "Just like how all those other clans had. In the end, they've all dumped your clan away, like trash. Rejected you like a social outcast."

Elena saw May's shoulder tense up. She couldn't tell if she was getting frustrated, depressed, or embarrassed. Whatever it was, Bojing smirked, probably satisfied at the reaction he was receiving.

"They were all too embarrassed to be associated with a _lowly, poor,_ clan like yours," he sneered at the girl across from him - his _own sister._

" _Shut up!_ " Elena suddenly barked, grabbing everyone's attention. All eyes stared at the girl.

 _Whoa…_ she thought, feeling herself slouch a bit from the sudden attention. She wasn't expecting herself to do that. Of course she would defend May. Within the couple hours, they quickly grew close. Hearing that guy insult him was brutal to her. She wanted to do something. Yet, she had second thoughts.

 _What are you doing trying to act macho?_ She chided internally. _Do you want to get yourself killed in this dream?_

" _Do not speak of the prince that way!"_ One of the guards with the dagger growled. He lifted his dagger up threateningly. It glistened brightly in the sunset.

"Now, now, Ai…" Bojing gestured with an arm to lower his weapon. The guard hesitantly complied. Bojing looked right at Elena's eyes, that cold, evil grin never leaving his face. "So your friends _do_ have voices, eh, Chang? I'm sure they mean no harm." However, he glanced at Elena for an answer.

Elena's jaw tightened. Considering the position they are all in, there wasn't a dash of doubt that someone was going to get hurt.

 _So why is he asking me?_ She questioned. _Is he testing me or something?_

"Hmm… A pity…" Bojing frowned mockingly, or at least how Elena saw it as, "I thought I was getting somewhere with these _friends_ of yours. Anyways, dearest Chang," he gazed back at his younger sister, "It doesn't have to end up being bloody. Surrender now, and I'll spare you and your friends here. Join me, and help me find the Philosopher's Stone for our dear father. I'll be sure to tell him that you aided me in this mission."

May scoffed, "You're such a liar! I'll never believe such nonsense, especially from you!"

Bojing's eyebrows rose, whether in amusement or shock, "Oh, I'm actually hurt at your words, my dear sister."

"Stop calling me that!" May exclaimed angrily, her hands balling into fists. "I know you just want to kill me!"

"Maybe I don't… But maybe…" Bojing suddenly smirked, a sinister gleam brimming in his eyes, " _I do._ "

At this, his three bodyguards lunged straight towards Elena's line.

 _No, no,_ no _!_ Elena panicked as she noticed one of the guards lung towards her. It was the same guard that threatened her life. His right hand was clenching that dagger tightly as he darted straight towards the girl. She barely saw the dagger - to her, it looked like a tiny shining thing.

 _How am I supposed to attack him?_ Elena frantically thought, stepping a few steps backs in a sloppy matter. _What if I kick him? Would he stab my leg? Or would he dodge it, and then stab me to death!? What if-_ Oh my god!

The guard suddenly appeared in front of her, angry dark eyes boring into overwhelmed brown eyes.

" _Never insult my lord again!_ " he angrily hissed. He did a vertical slice with his dagger. Elena screeched, clumsily backing away from him, some of her hair flowing forward. She felt the pressure and burn of the attack blow against her body. She could've sworn, if her hair flown any further ahead, she would've gotten a choppy haircut. Luckily, she dodged it safely. Before she could even sigh in relief, the guard did a quick thrust. Elena sidestepped to the right. She was able to get a good glimpse of the dagger; it was almost like a mini sword. It was a bit taller and chunkier than any other daggers she had ever seen. The handle was ornamented with a golden swirl.

"I see you like my dagger…" The guard mumbled with a sneer. His spare hand formed a fist, and was about to lunge towards her.

 _Aha!_ A small smirk curved Elena's lips. She remembered a lesson that involved dodging attacks. _Now's perfect!_

She hastily ducked underneath the fist. She then striked upwards with a high kick. She felt her left leg stretch quite severely. Her foot collided with the guard's shoulder.

"Augh!" the guard groaned. Elena watched with a burst of pride as his form crumpled. However, the guard quickly recovered. Despite having an injured shoulder, the guard was able to use his spare hand. He lashed out with another punch.

"Oh shi-" Elena scarcely avoided that punch with a backstep. She felt his fist nearly scrape her chin. Her right heel then bumped into something; it felt like a rock collided into her heel. Elena squealed in unexpected pain as she tripped, tumbling backwards. She landed flat on her back, her legs sprawling upwards for a brief second before joining her on the ground.

"Ugh…" Elena groaned as she attempted to sit up straight. She then thought, _C'mon, snap out of it! If you can't kill him, then at least hurt him as much as you can!_

She ended up with a slouch, but she at least managed to sit up. Pain was coursing through her back. Black shoes with white laces then greeted her view. Her head rose skywards. The guard was taking a couple steps towards her, his dagger ready to charge.

 _Oh no…_ she thought, realizing that she didn't had time to stand up. _I'm still weak…_

The guard stared down at her with a menacing smirk. Clutching his dagger tightly, he pointed in downwards toward the girl. He then swiftly charged at her.

With a strangled shriek, Elena lifted her left arm up, an attempt to shield herself from whatever attack the guard had to offer. She twisted her head backwards with clenched-shut eyes, thinking to herself, _What a nightmare…_

Just when she was expecting a myriad of agonizing stabbings, she felt something - _someone else_ \- rush in front of her. A second later, she heard the sound of harsh flesh and bones colliding into another set of flesh and bones. A ear-splitting shout followed, with a painful thud. Everything was then quiet, aside from the battle with May and her brother taking place somewhere else. She felt none of the pain that she was expecting.

Elena slowly lowered her arm and opened her eyes. She noticed that a huge shadow was engulfing her and the dusty ground around her.

 _Who…?_ Elena thought with a rush of confusion and fear as she quickly turned her head forward. A gasp escaped her lips as she saw who was now in front of her.

It was Scar. His back was facing her as he stood in front of her protectively. He pulled back his right arm, which was clenched in a fist.

"S-Scar…" Elena rasped shakily.

Scar turned around and looked at Elena. He solemnly asked, "Are you okay?"

Still totally fazed out by the events, Elena clumsily nodded. However, she was quite frantic in the inside.

Scar nodded, and turned forward. He just stared ahead. Questioningly, Elena stood up and peeked from Scar's right. A couple yards away laid the guard that was close to murdering her. A huge, pink lump was on his now swollen cheek.

 _Holy shit, he saved me!_ She thought. A swirl of emotions pinched her as she realized that Scar punched him. She felt touched, relieved, and just a bit afraid.

A blur of black suddenly sprang forward from Elena's left, immediately cutting off Elena's daze. Scar sidestepped in front of her and grabbed the black blur. He effortlessly threw the black blur to his left, away from Elena. It was another guard that Scar was battling with. He was sent flying towards the bruised guard that was still on the ground. They painfully collided together.

 _Whoa…_ Elena marveled with a hanging jaw. _This dude is strong…_

A scream pierced through the air, to Elena's right. It sounded like...

"Yoki!?" Elena turned around to the direction. Yoki had a terrified expression on his face as he ran backwards. Elena could've sworn, he saw some tears dripping from his dark eyes. In front of him, a tall, burly guard stood before him. He was wielding a strange-looking baseball bat; it was a glowing brown color instead of the usual cream hues Elena was used to seeing. There were some Chinese-like logograms inscribed on it. The guard was ruthlessly swinging his bat at Yoki. Luckily, Yoki managed to dodge all of those, but in a clumsy matter. He was screeching nonstop.

Elena peeked back at Scar. He gave her a look that clearly messaged, "Go there," with a brief nod. He then turned back to the two guards with the dagger, who were both on their feet in no time.

Elena quickly dashed towards Yoki and the guard. She attempted to stay as hidden as she could so she could sneak up on the guy.

 _You got this…_ Elena reassured as she felt her heart pump. She was now a couple yards behind the guard, who was too busy with Yoki. She continued to sprint towards the guard, but on her toes to avoid causing noise. The guard was continuously moving forward as he swung towards the tinier man. His hips made some emphasizing movements as he swung his bat.

After a few seconds of darting from one side of the area to the other, she was facing the man's back. The man hadn't even noticed the girl behind her at all; he was still occupied with Yoki. Yoki probably didn't see Elena either; the man was burly to the point where Elena could just hide behind him without anyone realizing. Elena glanced up at his head. His ravenous hair wasn't as long and fluffy as his comrades' hair were. It was shorter and tamed. His bandana, symbolizing his loyalty for the clan he serves, was tied around his head, a thick knot keeping it in place.

 _Would I be able to strike a round kick at his head?_ she thought, biting her lower lip. The man was at least six inches taller than her, probably even more. She was able to kick upwards even more than six inches. But it has been a few months since she had done so the last time.

She took a deep breath and thought, _It won't hurt to try._

Elena took a tiny step backwards. She readied herself for the kick, lifting her right leg upwards, feeling the stretch and pressure. It burned her leg a bit, but not as much as she anticipated it to be. Within a split second, her foot swiftly collided against the man's right temple. Elena could feel the bones and skin of the man's head through her moccasins. It felt harsh, but at the same felt fragile. It was haunting, but satisfying.

The burly man immediately crashed to his left side on the ground. His baseball bat rolled towards Elena's feet as he dropped it. Elena quickly scooped up his weapon. She scrutinized it for a few seconds. From what she could gather, the bat had suffered from some scratches, and even a dent. Parts of the Chinese letters on the bat was fading away, but it was still bold for the most part.

 _What did this man do to the bat?_ Elena questioned disturbingly, her face matching her thoughts as she eyed the dent wearily.

She then looked at Yoki, suppressing a giggle as she saw the man. Yoki was currently in the same position she was in a few minutes ago; on his back, on the ground. She watched as he slowly emerged from the ground, stroking his back with one hand.

"Oww…" he grumbled in pain. He then glanced up at Elena, who was peering down at him with a wry smile. He snapped, "Oh, what are _you_ smiling at? This isn't funny, y'know!"

Elena then laughed, to Yoki's annoyance. "I was actually on the ground just like you, before Scar saved me!" Both her and Yoki glanced at Scar. Elena only caught him maneuvering around one of the guards before turning her attention back to Yoki. She stretched her hand towards Yoki. Yoki immediately grabbed it, and Elena pulled him up as she asked, "Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

Yoki grumbled, "Other than my aching back? Yeah. I'm _great._ "

Yoki was now standing, letting go of the girl's hand after wobbling on his feet for a couple seconds. Both of them glanced at the burly man that was on the ground. They hesitantly stepped closer to the man. A hideous, swollen pink gash was on the area of the head that Elena kicked. The man wasn't making any sounds or movements; he was motionless.

"Whoa… Did I kick him to death?" Elena asked herself, slightly afraid. She then saw the man's chest rising and sinking. She sighed in relief; he was still alive. She moved in closer to get a good look on his face. His eyes were clenched shut, and his mouth was slightly agape. He was just unconscious.

"He's still alive?" Yoki asked.

Elena nodded and looked at the unconscious man with a hint of caution. "What should we do with him?"

Yoki shrugged his shoulders after a few seconds.

Then, without any warning, something had glided right above their heads. A sharp kunai appeared in front of them. It landed right into the comatosed guard's side. Elena heard the kunai digging into the flesh. Blood immediately spewed out from the kunai and the freshly new wound.

Elena and Yoki yelped instantaneously at the abrupt kunai. Elena screamed " _What the hell!?_ " while Yoki just screamed dramatically. They were suddenly clinging to each other in shock and fear, causing Elena to drop the bat. Elena turned behind her to see where the kunai had came from, while Yoki was still clinging onto her.

Scar was still busy with the royal guards. Only difference was that he was fending off only one guard. The other one - the one who tried to "honor" his lord by attempting to murder Elena - was sprawled on the ground, a pool of blood surrounding him. He laid there, to Elena's horror, dead. Meanwhile, Bojing and May were standing in the middle of the place, as if they had stopped fighting momentarily. Bojing was peering at the duo with a mocking expression of disappointment. May lowered her arm, her hand dissolving from the slapping position it was in seconds ago. She then whipped her head towards the same direction Bojing was staring at. Her uncharastically stony expression was laced with relief.

"Oh, dear… Looks like I've missed…" Bojing stated. "Not only that, but I've attacked my precious guard…" He shrugged. "Ah, well. He was recruited at the last second." He smirked the tiniest of smirks, and Elena saw his right hand twitch a bit. He was now clutching onto a kunai.

"May!" Elena frantically shouted. May looked at Elena as she continued, "Behind you!"

May turned around, just in time for Bojing to throw the weapon at her. She backflipped out of his range of throw.

 _Oh my god…_ Elena watched with a gaping mouth as May backflipped. Elena had seen many other people backflip, or at least attempted to. She even did one, only once though; the rest had ended up in failures of her landing on her face or sides. But she has never, ever seen anyone backflip as high as how May just did; May practically backflipped four feet into the air. And it wasn't some sloppy jump she did, like countless of other people had done it, including Elena herself. It was graceful and precise. While in midair, May tossed five kunai on the ground. They were aligned in some pattern in a group. After landing smoothly on her feet, she rapidly drew an alkahestry circle with her foot.

 _With her foot._

 _This girl is… Unstoppable…_ Elena nervously thought as she watched May hurl another set of kunais within the circle. She knelt down and placed a hand in the center of the circle. It glowed its usual blue hue, lightning flooding out. The other kunais she threw aside were also spouting out lightning. The lightning formed a blue star, and a multitude of giant spikes shot up from it. They all went towards Bojing's direction. Bojing's smirk morphed wider. He jumped, stepping on one of the hurling steps, and dodged some spikes.

Elena watched in slight horror as Bojing nimbly dodged and missed one spike to another.

"He's… Just as fast as his sister…" she mumbled to herself. She felt a pair of arms wrapped around her. Upon realizing who was still holding onto her for dear life, she exclaimed, "Yoki! Get off of me!" while yanking the arms off of her. She then went back to watching the battle.

High up in the air, Bojing stood on top of May's alkahestric work, looking down at May with one of the smuggest smirks Elena has ever seen. He then glanced back down at the ground of one of the spikes he was standing on.

"So this is the famous alkahestry of yours that I've been hearing about…" Bojing stated. He then went down on one knee and placed a hand on the ground. With that same hand, he tore off a chunk of it. He continued as he inspected the chunk, "Interesting… You've really outdone yourself."

Elena glanced at May, who was now standing, her back facing her and Yoki. She was clenching her signature kunai in one hand.

 _Would she be able to throw that high up?_ Elena thought, glancing back at Bojing. He was standing at least twenty feet up in the air atop May's work.

Within a second, Elena saw May's tiny body lung forward. The kunai hurled up in the air, flying towards Bojing, who was occupied with the alkahestry. He was still looking down, seemingly unaware of the kunai that was heading towards him. Elena's eyes widened a bit, thinking that the kunai would successfully strike the prince.

Bojing glanced up, his cold and calculating expression swiftly changing into a shocked face as he suddenly noticed the kunai approaching him. With a startled yelp, he shifted his body to the right.

He was almost too late. He hardly dodged it well. The kunai had managed to land a bleeding scrape across his cheek.

 _Oh shit, she did it!_ Elena thought with pride. Sure, the kunai could've gotten in a different, more vital part of Bojing. But she was proud enough of May for managing to get a blow on him with just a single kunai. She glanced at the girl with a soft smile.

Bojing, on the other hand, seemed quite livid. He covered the wound with one hand, the blood managing to seep out through the cracks of his fingers. The prince tried to maintain a calm expression, but his clenching teeth and wide eyes betrayed the look.

"Oh…" Bojing winced in pain. He glared down at May. "That actually… _Hurt._ "

He jumped down from the spikes. Elena watched in both awe and horror as the young man descended somewhat gracefully and fearlessly, his ponytail and the fluffy sleeves of his royal tunic flailing in the air. He landed on the ground with two of his legs curled, but still standing stably. He straightened himself, standing a far yet dangerous distance from May, Elena, and Yoki. A minuscule smile was now on his face. Even Elena was able to see that his smile wasn't a cheerful one; it was cold and calculating. Even when Bojing was clutching his wound, his smile managed to send chills through Elena, causing her to momentarily be nausea. That smile clearly screamed murder to her.

"I hope you do realize that I could kill you all in a million ways, _May Chang_ ," the prince spoke, his voice sounding just as calm yet cold as his smile seemed. Elena had noticed that for the first time since she was here, Bojing had referred to May by her full name, without throwing any of that mocking term "dear" in front of it.

 _Yikes…_ she thought quite nervously.

Then, Elena heard a ear-piercing sound far to her left, away from the group. It sounded like bones snapping into pieces. Elena turned around, and immediately felt nausea at what she was witnessing.

Scar had flung a guard's body towards the ground. The body was smashed to the ground with such a harsh impact to the point where Elena was not only able to hear his bones crack, but she was also able to see the body visibly tear and bleed. And the guard was bleeding _profoundlestly_. Within seconds, his body laid limp on the ground, surrounded by a pool of blood. Scar stood over the body like a looming tower, looking down at the now deceased guard menacingly before gazing his attention towards the group.

Still nauseated, Elena quickly avoided his stare. But it was only then she realized that Bojing was staring straight at her. Not at his sister or Yoki. Not even at the guard that was murdered mere seconds ago; he didn't even show any indicative sign or awareness of the guard at all. His eyes was starting just at Elena. Elena could practically _feel_ her skin crawling from him peering at her. Bojing's lips then curved into a smile, once again revealing his predatory self in the battlefield. Elena immediately did not liked where this was going.

"You've got a soft one there, May," the prince commented while still looking at Elena. "She gets squeamish a lot."

Elena paled.

* * *

 **A/N: Alrighty, then that's the end of this chapter! Of course, this would be continued in the next chapter. I'm hoping this time, it would not take long at all, and I'll pull myself together.**

 **What do you guys think? Please tell me if there's anything I could fix, or your thoughts in general - I love reading your opinions on this! I'm esp curious about the fight scene o3o It's my very first time writing one.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: In my last chapter, I stated that it won't take long for me to post the next chapter...**

 **... Only for me to update in after over a year ;; I am so so sorry for taking so long to upload a new chapter. It has been kinda hectic on me, between my last year of high school, starting college, and finally getting a part-time job. Juggling all of these together does get tiring at times.**

 **I'm also to blame. I struggled immensely in writing out this chapter, as I kept getting writer's block and burnouts. One particular reason was due to my lack of organization and planning ahead. I do have plenty of ideas on how I would want the story to go. Yet, I did not do any _proper planning out_ , such as outlining each chapter. As a result, I found myself lacking ideas for this particular chapter, and for the other few after this one. Thus, while I worked on this chapter, I also busied myself with crafting out a somewhat organized outline for future chapters. Hopefully, I'll get fewer burnouts and writer's blocks. I really do hope I get less of them. I really enjoy writing this story. I love writing out my OC; creating the FMAB world around her, and interaction with her and the unique characters brings me great joy. I feel that I am able to flesh out my OC more through the story. **

**And it especially warms my heart seeing how much love you all - my readers - give this story. I am legitimately _shocked_ at how many favorites, follows, and reviews it has received. I really was not expecting it at all. I am truly grateful for all of you. I wish I can hug all of you for sticking by. Oh well... virtual hugs will do /sends a virtual hug**

 **Oh, also! Shoutout to my dear friend _M. Illusion_ for continuously supporting and helping me out with this chapter, despite having a busy schedule herself. Words cannot express how grateful I am for the help I receive uwu **

**This is perhaps the longest chapter as of yet. I tend to overwrite ;; Hopefully, the next chapter won't be as long, for those of you that are not into these crazy long-ass chapters.**

 **Btw, if you have any tips on story organization and planning, along with combating writer's block and burnout, please lemme know. I wanna be able to write out the story more - for me and for you c:**

 **And without further adieu, here is the fourth chapter of our story.**

* * *

"You've got a soft one there, May," the prince commented, watching Elena from the side of his eye. A cruel grin sprouted from his lips as he chided her. "She gets squeamish a lot."

Elena paled. Her jaw slackens, but she attempted to keep them clenched shut. Her face betrayed her when her gaze dropped at her moccasin-clad feet.

 _Could it have been that obvious?_ She wondered, fighting to keep her shame from clouding her thoughts. It clung to her like a heavy weight on her shoulders. She attempted to meet his eyes, but she was met with his icy gaze. She clenched her fists in an attempt to mask her shaking.

Bojing's grin grew wider at the reaction as he continued, "Did you expect her to help you find that stone? She can't even look at a bleeding corpse without wanting to puke! Did you really stoop down to getting someone as weak as her in your clan?"

"Shut up, Wu!" May yelped in defense, "Leave her alone!"

"Oh? Well, I am stating the truth. After all," Bojing glanced around the area, glancing at all of May's team as he did, "You are the one that dragged these people to your mess."

"My mess!?" May's voice nearly rose an octave as she squealed, "Speak for yourself! It's as much of your mess as it is mine. Besides, my friends all helped me out willingly, unlike your bodyguards that you have to pay."

Xiao-Mei, who Elena had practically forgotten about until now, growled while May spoke.

 _May is sounding quite worked up…_ Elena thought, glimpsing at the girl in front of her. Her shoulders were tensed up, especially considerably for someone her age.

"Well, actually…" Yoki muttered next to her.

 _I swear to God, Yoki, if you say something stupid…_ Elena thought scathingly as she turned to Yoki with a death glare. Yoki's jaw hung midway as he caught Elena glowering at him. He then muttered "What?" as he gave her a confused and exasperated look. Elena just continued to stare at him, her dark eyes practically _screeching_ at him to not make the situation worse. Yoki stared back, annoyed and confused, but then given up after a few seconds with a sigh as he silently turned away from Elena and gazed back at the commotion between the two Xingese.

Thankfully, neither of the royal Xingese siblings heard the mini squabble in the background, as they were still glaring at each other.

"So you're saying that your little runts are loyal, eh?" Bojing remarked, one of his chocolate-brown eyebrows raising rather suggestively, "How about you let me test their loyalty for you?"

Elena gulped as Bojing's eyes darted towards the trio in front of him, a predatory smirk forming on his face. The wound on his cheek still dripped of fresh blood, making him look even more barbaric, despite being garbed in such rich, royal attire. Elena shivered as she mentally recalled Bojing's swift movements; the way he fluidly dodged all of May's alkahestry attacks made it seem virtually impossible to attack or avoid him. Although May proved that Bojing indeed had some openings that can make him vulnerable to attacks, Elena doubted that she'd be able to do the same. She was unsure of her own abilities in this situation.

Elena saw May shift closer towards her and Yoki. Her body tensed up as she crouched downwards a bit, meaning one thing: she was going to shield them from Bojing, or at least attempt to. Bojing had also noticed, as his grin grew wider.

She glanced at Scar, who was standing quite a distance away from her. He was standing parallel to the Xingese prince by just a few yards. The two Xingese guards he had brutally slain were lying limp on the ground behind him, practically drowning in their own blood; they were far from alive. The same nauseous feeling she felt earlier was growing back inside her gut; Elena could've sworn she was about to vomit at this rate. Luckily, May was blocking her from Bojing.

"You leave them alone!" May snarled loudly, "I will _not_ let you lay a finger on them!"

Bojing let out a haughty laugh and retorted some words back. But Elena couldn't hear him because Yoki suddenly distracted her from them.

"Here," he muttered. Suddenly, she felt something harsh and quite heavy thrown in her arms. She nearly dropped the item. When she fumbled with it, she glanced down to see what exactly she was given.

It was the Xingese baseball bat.

"Wh-What?" Elena stammered, baffled at Yoki's actions. She gazed at the shorter man, who scooted back a bit. Giving him a skeptical look, she asked in a hushed tone, "What's this for?"

Yoki gave Elena a look of exasperation as he hissed back, "To hit him, obviously!"

"Yeah, I know," Elena hissed back, "But why me?"

"Because I don't know how to use this... this…" Yoki stumbled upon words to describe the baseball bat, until he settled with "this thing!"

 _He doesn't know about baseball?_ Elena pondered. _I don't think Mack mentioned anything about sports here. Do they even play any here? I doubt it._

"I don't know, either!" Elena rebutted, deciding to play along. "You think I ever used this thing before?"

"Well, you'd be better off with it than I am," Yoki folded his arms. Then, his face creased as if he was forcing himself to speak. Elena cocked her head, getting ready to quip at him, until he reluctantly added, "At least you can do some moves or whatever."

Elena gasped, taken aback by the sudden compliment. Despite standing in a battlefield with two bickering royals who were on the verge of tearing each other up, she found some sort of comfort and satisfaction from Yoki's unexpected praise. After being on the road with him for hours and hearing him constantly quibble, the compliment felt like a burst of fresh air.

She then smirked mischievously as she asked, "Are you saying that I fight better than you or something?"

"What? No, I did _not_!" Yoki practically squawked, "Don't be ridiculous! I'm only trusting you with that because I don't want to die! Especially in this dirty place!"

Still keeping that gleam, Elena pushed on, "And because you can't fight?" She felt a surge of pride swell up inside of her. It was the same feeling she got when she had briefly stumped the Truth. She remembered when he, claiming to be everything and almighty, was clueless about who summoned her to the world of alchemy.

 _It feels nice stumping haughty people,_ she thought to herself. _Showing them their place._

Yoki's eyes flared up. He was about to say something until they heard light footsteps approach them at an expeditious speed. Elena peered up and saw a blur of red heading towards the trio.

"Oh no, you don't…" May growl before she charged towards Bojing with a battle cry. The royals engaged in a few kick and punches. Elena could tell that May was attempting to push Bojing further back away from her and Yoki.

"Now's your chance!" Yoki hiss again. He then quickly explained, "While this is happening, you can intervene. It'll throw him off. By doing that, the girl or Scar would be able to land a hit or two on him!"

"What?" Elena's eyebrows wrinkled a bit, "You think that would work on him? What if he pulls out some hidden dagger or something?"

"Well…" Yoki blinked a couple of times as he tried to think of an answer, still keeping a hold on Elena. Elena grimaced at the thought of Bojing drawing out something new that could harm her; so far, he seemed to be full of surprises, much akin to his younger sister.

Eventually, Yoki shrugged and settled with "It won't hurt to try."

"Yoki, what?" Elena scorned, "This is a terrible idea! Why don't you do it instead?"

"I just told you! You're better at this than I am! I do not plan on dying here!" Yoki scoffed, "Now go!"

Yoki then shoved Elena towards the Xingese royals without any warning. Elena let out a scream as she stumbled straight towards them. Ahead of her, Bojing was focused on May; it didn't seem evident that he noticed Elena. He was throwing some punches at his sister, who managed to nimbly dodge them quickly. Elena's heart swelled with pride.

 _That's my girl…_ she thought.

Somehow, time felt like it was going fast, but at the same time slow; despite drifting towards the fighting duo at the rate of a heartbeat, Elena was able to quickly think up of a plan. Perhaps it was adrenaline, or her taekwondo lessons stemming from the past that had often compelled her into thinking fast.

 _Okay, just one swing and maybe a kick…_ Elena thought. _Here it goes…_

When Elena was just a foot away, Bojing had shoved May a few inches away. Upon noticing her, he had an expression of shock and amusement. Elena took the opportunity to swing. She quickly swung to the right, closing her eyes shut as she did. She braced herself for the impact. At first, she felt the bat hit a part of the Xingese prince. But then, it felt like something was holding the bat mid-air.

 _Did I hit him?_ She mentally questioned. Elena opened her eyes to view what happened, and nearly gagged.

Bojing was right across her, staring straight at her face as he held the bat. His dark hues mischievously peered deeply in Elena's brown eyes.

"Well, well! Look what we have here," Bojing muttered. Elena, for some reason, couldn't tear her eyes away from him as he continued, "I guess you aren't so soft after all."

Elena then felt the bat nearly slip out of her grasp. She glanced down and saw Bojing's tan hands clasping on it tightly. He gave the bat another harsh tug. Elena tightened her own grip on the bat, her bony knuckles whitening under the pressure. She attempted to pull the bat back, but Bojing's strong grip made the ordeal difficult.

Bojing chuckled at her efforts with a sneer.

"Elena!" She heard May call out. She sounded concerned for her. Elena blushed a bit.

Elena then flashed Bojing a wide nervous smile as she asked, "Do you mind? I want this back."

 _At least I know he won't stab me or anything…_ she thought, eyeing Bojing's hands. Both of them were occupied on the bat.

Bojing faked a hurt expression, cocking his head as he responded, "But I want this, too." He then asked in a softer and suggestive tone, "Why are you wasting your time with my dear sister? Her clan is worthless." He smirked, letting some of his somehow white teeth show, as he added, "You should join me instead. I'll treat you better than them."

Elena grimaced. She faintly retorted, "Uh, no, thank you. I'd rather not."

"Don't say that…" Bojing muttered. He inched closer towards Elena's face. Elena's heartbeat started to increase. She felt his eyes scanned her. Perhaps a bit too deeply. She attempted to back up while still holding onto the bat. Bojing's grip, however, yanked her back.

"You'd be wasting yourself with her," he continued muttering, "A precious thing like you…"

"Um…" Elena was at loss for words. All she felt was total dread from the Xingese prince. His eyes were now glimmering in a manipulative, wrong way. That, and he was practically leaning towards her with a predatory-like smile. It made her body felt like it was about to melt.

 _No, no, no, why did I agree to this?_ Elena thought to herself. _Wait… I didn't even-_

Then, out of nowhere, a kunai flew in the air. It went straight into Bojing's right shoulder.

 _May…_ Elena gasped.

Bojing howled in pain as the tiny, sharp knife sunk into his shoulder. His grip instantly loosened, which gave Elena a chance to yank the bat out of his hands. As soon as she did that, she swiftly smacked Bojing without any thoughts. She wasn't aiming at a specific area, nor did she know where she managed to hit him, but she was surprised at how quickly Bojing suddenly crumpled on the ground. He was bleeding profusely. Elena immediately gagged at the sight of blood; it was practically dripping off of his shoulder to the beige ground, like a waterfall cascading down to a river. Part of Bojing's tunic was now soaked in blood, tainting the golden details with dark red. It was even visible on the red parts of his outfit, as the once bright scarlet was now a murky crimson.

A wave of nausea struck Elena as she toiled in ripping her eyes away from the bleeding royal. Time seemed to slow down around her as she kept looking down at Bojing. She could see his entire body twitch in pain and shock of the kunai, along with his frequent grunts.

 _That's gross…_ Elena numbly thought. Her hands were sweating underneath her clutch of the bat. Even though Bojing was clearly not dead, the intense amount of blood gushing out from his fresh wound was enough to make her sick.

Bojing then looked up at Elena. His lips curled up into what either seemed like a nasty grin or an expression of pain. He weakly placed his hand on the kunai.

May trudged towards her wounded brother, her long raven braids swaying back. Her round face was masked with a grim expression; it threw Elena off momentarily, seeing how contrasting and serious she was on the battlefield, as opposed to her usual chirpy self. She first looked at Elena, her serious expression softening. "Nice job. Are you okay?"

Elena quickly nodded, still shaken by May's mood and the recent events that had taken place.

May nodded back and then turned her attention back to Bojing. The younger girl frowned down at her brother and murmured, "I told you to leave my friends alone." Her tone was as icy as her expression. It made Elena shudder a bit.

Bojing was wheezing in pain, his chest heaving harshly. He was attempting to pull the kunai out of his shoulder, but it seemed to be causing him more pain and blood. He peered up at May with wide, bitter eyes. Dark, long strands of his once neat ponytail were now scattered on the ground around him. He managed to sputter, "Y-You won't get a-away with this…"

May sighed as if she didn't even hear him, "And to think that you actually get distracted pretty easily. I was expecting more from you."

"Should I take it from here?" Elena suddenly heard a baritone voice question. She peered up at the direction of the voice. It was Scar that asked. He was now looming over Bojing as well, opposite of where she and Yoki were standing.

 _Jeez, I can't believe I actually forgot about him…_ Elena thought. _Weird that he was fighting in the background a lot._

Elena glimpsed at May to hear her reply. Her face remained sullen as she was contemplating the decision.

 _Wait a second…_ A thought swiftly occurred to her. _When he said "take it from here," does he mean…_

Elena's eyes darted around the area. The guards they've defeated were scattered across various spots of the battlefield. Each one of them laid limp on the ground, surrounded by their blood. Some bled more than others; namely, the guards that Scar killed lost the most. They all seemed to be lifeless, at least from Elena's perspective. She couldn't tell if they were breathing or not. But from the amount of red she saw, along with their overall motionless bodies, she assumed that they were no longer alive. Her stomach churned at both the view and thought.

She turned back towards May and Scar, realizing their intention. She blurted out, "Are you guys gonna kill him?"

Scar and May immediately stared back at Elena. Scar was as solemn as ever, which Elena was accustomed to by now. May also looked quite serious. Yet, her dark eyes also conveyed some other emotion. Elena couldn't depict it well, but the glimmer in her eyes was hinting some sort of mixed feelings.

"He intruded this refuge for malicious reasons," Scar spoke up, "He deserves a fitting punishment, for God."

Elena remembered him stating something similar to that earlier, before they rushed out to face the Wu clan. He still hung on to that reasoning in the end, to Elena's surprise. To him, it served as an overall purpose through the fight. Despite that, it added a sense of dread to Elena.

"Although," Scar glanced at May as he continued, "It also depends on the little girl."

Elena heard Yoki mutter under his breath, "I'd say to just get it over with." However, she didn't bother to chastise him again. She found herself fixated at May's response.

May stood there quietly for a few seconds. Bojing's gasps were the only sounds that now filled the silent air. He was still trying to yank May's kunai out of his shoulder. Yet, it remained stuck.

 _Damn… How far had May thrown that knife?_ Elena thought. _Did she pin him to the ground with it? It looks like she did…_

After what felt like minutes, despite it just being a few seconds, May replied, "We have to get rid of him. If we keep him alive, he'll try to kill us again. Then he'll snatch the Philosopher's Stone away. I can't leave any open chances here." She peered up at Scar and smiled faintly. "It's okay. I'll take care of this on my own. I'll be quick."

 _She's gonna kill her own brother. Oh my god._ Elena's eyes slightly widened at the thought. She remembered the conversation May and she had before stumbling in the refugee; about how she would do anything to attain the Philosopher's Stone. Her entire clan suffered immensely for years. As the princess and leader of her clan, she would risk it all to bring honor to her people. It even meant dirtying her hands in bloodshed with her distant siblings if she had to.

Elena gulped; she couldn't comprehend anyone ever killing their own sibling, even if they were not close. Yet, here she was, moments away from witnessing the death of a sibling from the hands of another. Despite it all just being a dream, everything here felt so genuine and real. It was haunting, to say the least.

Scar nodded in response. "Suit yourself." He turned to Yoki. "Go get that cart ready." He pointed to a wagon with a horse tied on it at a corner. "We'll be departing in it as soon as we're done here."

Yoki nodded and dashed towards the wagon to tend to the horse.

May walked closer to Bojing, clutching onto her signature kunai. Bojing was still wheezing deeply for air. This time, he gave up on yanking the kunai out. His eyes were lingering skyward, rather than on May or anyone else around him.

May took in a deep breath. Then, she muttered, "Goodbye, Wu."

 _Yikes… Here it goes…_ Elena was about to squint her eyes shut, not at all wanting to see his death unfold. However, before she had a chance to even blink, May hurled her kunai straight into Bojing's neck. Elena could've sworn she heard the slimy sounds of his flesh being pierced as the kunai punctured his neck. Blood immediately spewed out from the new wound; at first, it sprayed up in the air. Then, it streamed down from the wound, across the next and to the ground. Bojing sputtered, taking in his last couple breaths as his neck turned scarlet. After one final cough, he just laid there. His chest was no longer heaving, and his eyes remained partly opening. Now, he is motionless. He is lifeless.

He is dead.

Elena's eyes lingered on him for a couple of seconds. The sun had just set, the last orange rays of sunlight barely streaking the darkening sky. Dusk was settling in, making the alleyway yard they were in a little murky. Luckily for Elena, she wasn't able to see the blood that clearly. Yet, she was still haunted at the fact that she was, once again, staring down at a dead body.

 _This feels too real…_ she thought with a grimace.

"What…" May's soft voice broke Elena's train of thoughts, "What should we do with their bodies, Scar? Should we just leave them?"

Scar hummed in thought - a low-toned sound mixed with his usual grunt. Then, he decided, "We cannot leave their bodies here - especially in this refugee. I will bury them outside this place." He turned to May and Elena. "You two should go help set up the carriage. Go get Yoki to help me with these bodies."

May nodded and darted off towards the wagon. Elena, however, was still transfixed by Bojing's corpse. His eyes remained open, now appearing murky and dark. His mouth hung slightly open, some blood and drool leaking out from his mouth. Scar's burly hand then came into view. It landed on Bojing's open eyes, nearly engulfing his whole face. A second later, he lifted his hand up, and Bojing's eyes were now closed.

"Is this your first time witnessing death in front of you?" he asked.

Elena finally managed to tear her eyes away from Bojing. She peered up at the tan man and answered, "In a way, yes." She twirled a strand of her hair as she faintly went on, "I just never saw a bloody, murdered corpse in front of me, y'know what I mean?"

"Is that so?" Scar responded. He scanned the area around them. Tall, worn-down stone houses surrounded them. The color scheme on the houses was dull, with varying shades of white, beige, and grey. Some of them looked no different from the ground they were standing on. Many of them had parts that were chipping away due to a lack of maintenance, especially at the edges. To Elena, the buildings of the hideout represented lost history, along with a lingering sense of hope and despair.

"This path I chose," Scar continued, "Is full of bloodshed and death." He looked at Elena. Elena shuddered a bit under his intense gaze; even in the darkened area, she was able to see his scarlet eyes gleam rather eerily and sternly. "If you choose to follow me, then I hope you're aware of what you're getting yourself into."

Elena only nodded in response, trying to maintain a neutral and somewhat serious expression.

 _I just hope I don't wake up screaming from him…_ she thought. _This dream is already nightmarish enough for me._

"Go help out organize the horse wagon," Scar told Elena. "And tell Yoki to come and help me out."

Elena nodded again, quickly this time. She turned around to the direction of the wagon.

 _Oh boy…_ she squinted in an attempt to take a good look at the wagon. _Either my messed-up vision is, uh… Messing with me. Or that wagon is kinda far._

She took in a deep breath. _Come on, Elly. You did much, much more walking here. Just a couple more steps._

She then dashed off to the horse wagon, avoiding the sight of the bleeding corpses as much as she could. She didn't want to get ill again just from glancing at those dead bodies.

 _Huh?_ Elena thought as she noticed something while running. She looked down at her two legs. They were moving in its usual run, yes. But Elena felt herself literally sprinting faster. Faster than she has ever run for as long as she could remember. It was as if the gravity around her was lighter and more workable for her than ever.

 _What's happening to me?_ She wondered while she still ran. _Why am I suddenly able to run faster?_

As she kept darting forward, she quickly thought back to the other times she ran. She remembered when she was scurring through the dark alleyway with Scar and Yoki to meet up with May.

 _I didn't feel like I was running any faster back then…_ her eyes squinted as she thought.

She then recalled sprinting with May through the town to buy food. She remembered how fast May zipped through the street, her dainty hand clutching Elena's hand as she somehow successfully dragged her behind.

 _May was running really fast back then…_ Elena mused. She envisioned how the buildings around them had instantly blurred away as they passed by them in such a rapid pace; the multitude of colors she saw melted away to a new one each second.

 _She's really fast in general, though, I'll give her credit,_ she thought, and then sulked a bit. _Faster than me… But now that I think about it… I wasn't struggling when I was running with her. Then again, she was clinging onto me. She probably could've-_

"... down! Hey, you brat! Stop!" A snarky voice called out, interrupting Elena's train of thoughts. As reality came back to her as speedily as a gliding bird, the first thing she saw was Yoki's distressed face as he screamed at her. It was extremely close to her.

"Oh go-!" Elena shouted as she attempted to skid to a stop, but she reacted too late. She then collided straight into Yoki. Both of them screeched in fear as they alarmingly tumbled on the rough ground. A dull _thud_ sound emitted, with some dust from the ground puffing skyward around them.

"Ugh…" Elena groaned as her sides throbbed in pain. She slowly rolled on her back, thankful that it wasn't in as much pain as the rest of her body. She was wheezing in the air with heavy breaths.

 _That hurt a lot more than I thought it would…_ she thought as she gasped in for air.

"Urgh…" Elena felt Yoki shift a little underneath her right side. She was about to crawl away from him to her left. However, Yoki growled "Get off of me…" as he shoved her away. She ended up sprawling more to the left, causing her sides to cramp up even more. Elena let out another groan in response as she rubbed her right side. She scowled at the man, who didn't seem to notice.

"Are you guys okay?" Elena heard May ask. Elena glanced up and saw May's head sticking out from the wagon, with Xiao-Mei perched on her shoulder. Her expression morphed into a shocked, concerned face as she noticed Elena and Yoki on the ground. She then nimbly climbed off the wagon and scurried over to Elena's side as she asked, "What happened?"

Elena watched May as she gracefully kneeled next to her.

 _Jeez…_ Elena had then noticed the chestnut-colored horse that was attached to the wagon. It was just behind the princess. It was oddly quiet, however, as it was just gazing around. Perhaps May and Yoki were able to tend to the horse successfully enough to tame it immediately.

 _I can't believe I just noticed that horse…_ she mused to herself as she attempted to sit up. Her right side was still throbbing from the impact of the ground, causing her to wince again.

May saw Elena flinch. She placed a gentle hand on her back and murmured as sweetly as a nurse, "Don't strain yourself."

Elena glanced up at May and smiled weakly, touched by the younger girl's concern. "I'm fine. Just collided into him by mistake. Don't worry about this, it's nothing."

May softly grin in return. She then peered up at Yoki. Elena did the same. To her surprise, he was standing up as if nothing happened, patting off his back.

May asked, "Master Yoki, does your back hurt?" Elena cringed at May's referral to the man as "Master."

Yoki did his usual scoff as he waved her off, "It's nothing much. Luckily, for someone who eats a lot, she isn't that heavy."

Elena immediately flared up at his comment. She squealed, "I'm right here, you know! And what is that supposed to mean?"

 _Somehow, I actually forgot how mad he gets me…_ Elena thought.

Yoki opened his mouth and was about to respond, until Scar hollered, "Yoki! Come here and give me a hand with these bodies!" His voice sounded loud and quite authoritative, as he typically sounds like. Elena has, strangely enough, found herself warming up to Scar. Perhaps it was because the fight they went through was even more startling than Scar himself, or she was strangely getting used to him. Heck, she was quite certain that he won't harm her or even May, as long as they don't do anything purposely malicious toward him. Yet, Yoki had still visibly flinched at the man's voice. It made Elena wonder just what in the world did Yoki do to Scar.

Within a heartbeat, Yoki twisted his body around and loudly replied, "Coming, sir!" He gave himself one final, brief pat down before dashing off to Scar.

Elena heard May hum to herself in a rather wistful tone. She turned to the Xingese girl and asked, "What's up?"

"I was about to ask if he wanted me to check up on him…" May mused. Her voice resonated some sort of lamentation and regret.

Elena turned back to Yoki. He was already meters away from them, as he bolted towards Scar without any visible pain. At least it looked like it from Elena's perspective; her vision wasn't the best when it came to looking at anything too far, such as Yoki running off. But Elena didn't want May to worry even more, especially with what she had to do recently, so she commented, "Eh, it's fine. He looks alright to me."

"I guess so…" May's dark eyes trailed off to Elena's left arm as she mumbled. Her face then glowed in realization as she abruptly clutched Elena's arm. Although the girl wasn't holding onto her arm with a tight grip, the sudden move still startled Elena a bit. May, however, didn't notice, as she went on, "Oh yeah! I said I would check up on your arm, Ellie!"

"Huh?" Elena glanced down at her arm and then noticed what May meant. Her sleeve was torn, and there was a light, scarlet cut on her unprotected arm. A light trail of blood was streaming out from the cut. Luckily, it blended in with the color of her sweater, so the blood wasn't that noticeable, other than from the ripped area that exposed her arm.

"Oh right!" Elena exclaimed as she recalled, "One of your brother's guards scraped me with his kunai! I'm surprised I forgot about that through the whole fight."

"It was probably from the nerves of other things happening around you," May stated as she fluidly drew an alkahestry circle next to her. She then retrieved five of her seemingly infinite amount of kunais and positioned them in their proper spots.

"Anything else hurts?" May asked as she fixed up a loose kunai.

"My sides also hurt from falling…" Elena gave her right side a gentle rub to soothe the throbbing pain. "And I think that's about it."

May nodded. She wrapped her arm around Elena, similar to earlier on when they first met, and instructed, "Lay down right on top of it. I believe this is big enough for your arm and entire upper body."

With a little bit of maneuvering her body around the kunais, along with some help from May, Elena was able to fit her left arm and torso into the alkahestry circle. She wasn't laying in the most comfortable position, yes, but it was doable for her.

"Are you ready?" May asked, her face appearing upside-down to Elena. Xiao-Mei was still perched onto her thin shoulder.

Elena nodded, knowing how the procedure of May's healing alkahestry would go.

May nodded back. She set her hands on the edge of her circle. A second later, the circle underneath Elena sparked up in its usual icy-blue tint. A soothing aura greeted Elena; it was the same feeling she sensed from back in the hideout. She let the calming sensation engulf her, closing her eyes for a couple of seconds. The pain that was emitting from her sides vanished away second by second. Elena could've also sworn she felt the cut on her arm literally sew back into place as well. It wasn't as painful as she thought it would be. Instead, it felt like a bug was crawling on her. Elena would've been creeped out from the rather ticklish feeling if it wasn't May's alkahestry doing the healing work. Other than that, the alkahestry effect did not fail to ease her once again. She felt herself relax tremendously, especially from that gruesome fight.

About half a minute later, the alkahestry circle faded away. The glowing azure linings from the alkahestry's power soon dimmed down back to its original chalk-white scribble. The kunais that were rattling from the alkahestic pressure all came to a still. Elena sat up, grateful for no longer suffering from anymore bleeding or pain. She felt extremely refreshed, much akin to how she would feel at home after a warm bubble bath and a facial routine. She glanced at her left arm; to her amazement, the cut was all sealed up, with no visible traces of it ever being there. Although, there was still some residue of blood on her arm. Elena assumes that the blood had also trailed down the rest of her bottom arm. She hoped that there were tissues in the wagon.

Elena now stood up. She gave May, who was pulling out the kunais on the ground, a warm smile. She practically wanted to scoop the girl up in a hug. But seeing how occupied she was with the kunais, she resorted to exclaiming, "Thank you so much, May! I don't know what would happen to me without you!"

May beamed at Elena as she tugged out the last kunai, "No worries! The cut wasn't bad at all." She then sprung up and organized her kunais, before she briskly stored them away in her purple stash bag. "Let's go back to the wagon!"

"Yup!" Elena nodded, and then with a giggle added, "I was about to suggest the same!"

The two girls scurried towards the wagon. They passed by the brown horse, who neighed softly at their sudden close presence.

Elena was able to observe the carriage from the outside up close. She just noticed that there were two wooden planks attached to each side of the horse; it linked up from the horse to the base of the wagon. The sheet of the carriage had a couple of parts stitched to it, as some chunks of it were either falling apart or ripped off. It had a lot of grime on it, tainting away its white color. Overall, it looked run-down, as if it wasn't properly cared of. It also looked quite cramped.

"Uh, May…" Elena gave the carriage a weary look, "Are you sure this carriage is stable enough for the four of us?"

May had just climbed into the conveyance. She peered back at Elena with her usual smile, her long braids swishing to the side, as she answered, "Well, it seems pretty doable from the inside, at least. There aren't any holes from the outside. And they managed to keep it somewhat tidy, so Master Yoki and I didn't have to clean it up that much!"

May extended a hand to help Elena up. Elena grasped her tiny hand. May pulled the older girl up while Elena climbed inside the wagon.

"Oh…" Elena gaped. She knelt down next to May, taking in the space of the carriage.

The wagon wasn't extremely spacious, but it was roomier than Elena had anticipated. A grey carpet with some rips in the edges laid in the middle of the room. Surrounding it were various sizes of jars and boxes. Most of them were medium size jars and small boxes. The wagon didn't feel cramped, but rather a bit cozy. It definitely wasn't what Elena expected it to be.

"This actually isn't that bad," Elena slightly nodded in approval, "Maybe we could all manage to stay in here for a night or two, right?"

"Yeah!" May agreed, "Not only that, buuuuut…" she crawled over to a nearby brown box and slid open the lid, "They left us some food that could last us a while!"

"Really?" Elena's eyes widened a bit as she made her way to May's side. She glanced down at the box. She then gasped, "Oh crap, that's a good amount of food."

Indeed, there was a good amount of stored food in the box. Most of them consisted of the same canned goods that Scar and Yoki since Elena arrived in Amestris. However, they had some writing that closely resembled Chinese characters. Elena assumed it was the Xingese language. The can also have pictures of foods completely different from what they ate. Some were basic foods - such as corn and mushrooms. Others were, to Elena's shock, full meals. Elena glanced at two particular cans that caught her attention. One of them had a picture of pork chops on it. The other one had a picture of a bowl that contained chicken, noodles, and various vegetables. Elena gathered the can in her hands as she recognized the meal on the can.

"Is this chow mein?" Elena asked in dismay.

"Yup!" May chirped, "In Xing, some of the canned goods are actually considered a luxury."

"Interesting…" Elena muttered as she examined the can. The Xingese letters were written in yellow, while the background was in a scarlet red color. The bowl of the chow mein was right in front of the can. The colors of the vegetables looked more vibrant than Elena remembered it to be.

 _They actually look good…_ she thought. _I swear, this place makes mundane food like veggies look and taste like heaven._

Elena then felt the tiniest of rumbles from her stomach.

 _Oh boy…_ she sighed. _Again..._

Elena spoke up, "Let's cook this later on in the night when we're outta here!"

May giggled, "Are you hungry again, Elena?"

Elena felt her cheeks flare up.

 _Crap. She knows._ She thought in slight defeat.

"W-Well…" she responded, feeling overly flustered. She sheepishly smiled as she continued, "Just a little bit, y'know. I mean… So much had happened. It's hard not to get just a little bit tired from it, right?"

"Yeah. You're right…" May responded. Her voice was suddenly soft and hollow. She sounded worn out.

Elena noticed her sudden change in tone. She turned to May, her face immediately morphing to a concerned expression as she saw the girl. May had now looked overall dejected. Her face was set in an uncharacteristically solemn expression; her youthful features made her seem as if she was about to break down. Her face was bowed down, making her seem even more downhearted. She clutched the hems of her royal dress tightly with both hands. Her panda companion on her shoulder also seemed as worried as Elena; she mewled and rubbed the girl's cheek with a black paw.

"Are you okay, May?" Elena asked as she slowly placed the canned food back into the jar. Elena then realized what she said that made the girl so distraught.

 _Oh, crap! I shouldn't have mentioned that battle with her brother!_ She mentally scolded herself in frustration. _Damnit, I'm so dense!_

Elena was about to apologize to May, until the girl spoke up in a barely audible tone, "It's nothing. It's just that…" she was now twiddling with one of her braids. "I just feel so… wrong for killing my brother. My own blood sibling."

Elena's heart sank as she was confirmed about what upset May, that she was right all along.

"I vowed that I would do anything it would take to find the philosopher's stone…" May continued, "Even if it meant killing my own siblings, it would all be for my clan. Yet, I feel so bad for killing Wu. It wasn't like I was even close to him, ever. But I had no choice. He was about to kill us all, either way."

Elena nodded along at the last sentence. She replied in hopes of not making the situation worse, "Yeah. It was for a safety reason, after all."

"You're right…" May admitted with the slightest of smiles. "But I just can't help but think… What if we were close siblings?" Her frown returned, "I never got to experience any close sibling relationships. Ever since I was born, our clan was practically surrounded by the negative borders of other clans. I wasn't allowed to communicate openly with any of my siblings in fear of an assassination attempt. For practically my whole life, I was groomed to combat against my family members, instead of improving any possible bonds."

Elena was at a loss of words for May's sudden outburst. It just made her aware of how completely different she was from May; she couldn't relate to the Xingese princess at all, which was interfering with how to respond to her. She thought back to her own bond with her twin brother, Morgan. Despite their many differences and occasional arguments, she still considered him as her "second half" at the end of the day. They live under the same roof, attend the same school, and do numerous activities together. They especially had many conversations together and did have things in common, which only helped enhance their relationship even more.

Silence hung in the air for a couple of seconds, as Elena only stared at her sympathetically.

May noticed, and immediately apologized, "I'm sorry."

Elena was now confused. She tilted her head as she asked, "Sorry about what?"

"For suddenly rambling off like that," May answered, "I just never had anyone to talk about this. Other than Xiao-Mei, of course." Elena watched sadly as May gave the tiny panda a weak smile and a pat on the head. Xiao-Mei let out a purr of comfort. May went on, "I shouldn't have gone off like that. I promise-"

"No," Elena interrupted May in a slightly firm tone. Hearing a girl years younger than her lament over such a dreary childhood and then apologize for expressing it was extremely upsetting to Elena. May, meanwhile, had looked a little taken aback by Elena's abrupt voice raise. Elena didn't stop from there, however. Wanting to at least comfort her, she continued in a more hushed tone, "Don't say that, May…"

Still kneeling on the wagon ground, Elena slowly slid closer towards May. May's expression was a mix of sorrow and confusion.

 _Oh boy…_ she mused to herself. _I think I know what to say. Lemme see how I could explain it in the best way possible…_

"It's okay to talk about it," she started a bit slowly, "You may not have had the best kind of people or environment to express your feelings about it. But it's also not good to completely bottle it up." Elena grinned a bit. "I'm glad you opened up about this. I feel trusted."

May slightly beamed in response. It was dull, compared to the other times she smiled at Elena, but it was there nonetheless.

Elena continued more slowly and deliberately, "Don't focus too much on the past. Instead, focus on what you could do to improve the future."

 _Shit, this is already starting to sound super corny…_ Elena thought. _I gotta try to make this sound better. I know I'm not the best at comforting others at times. But I gotta try at least._

The older girl swallowed; she has never heard or talked to anyone stuck in the same situation as May was in. May's situation was complex and even original, compared to many others. Yet, it was an unfair situation for someone as young as May to be in. Despite knowing her for only a few hours, Elena felt oddly protective towards the young princess. She suddenly wanted to erase all of her worries, as she would want for any of her friends and close family members. May had especially done so much for her in those few hours. It would only be fair for Elena to repay her in some way before she wakes up.

Elena then spoke up, maintaining the same careful-paced tone, "Killing Wu may have been a stepping stone needed for getting the Philosopher's Stone. It proves that you are capable of earning it, especially since you crossed the dessert here with just Xiao-Mei. Wu, on the other hand, brought guards with him. You're capable enough to fend on your own, which makes you strong."

"Thank you, Elena…" May thanked with a faint smile, "Though, I didn't think it would be possible if you, Master Yoki, and Scar weren't here to help."

Elena nodded, "It's also good to turn for help when needed. That's why you shouldn't bottle up your feelings like that. It can be unhealthy in the long run. Plus, the fact that you turned for those outside your country for help also shows that you're good at making relations between others, which is especially needed for running a country - or in your case, a clan - I suppose?"

May shook her head.

Elena slowly went on, "What I'm trying to say is…" Elena paused for a bit to recollect her thoughts.

 _At this rate, I sound like someone who forgot to speak English._ She thought. _Or in this case, Amestrian._

Elena resumed, "You should mainly focus on getting the Stone. Once you get the Stone, you can finally work on improving your clan. Even though you were forced to kill your own brother and you feel sad about it, that's okay. You have killed one sibling, but perhaps in the future, you can use your power and experience to improve your bonds with many more siblings. And you've proved that you can do many things to accomplish that." Elena gave May a thoughtful smile, "I believe in you, May. You've done so much."

Elena let out a sigh as she finished up her attempt at comforting the girl. She was relieved that it didn't come out as bad as she thought it would.

 _I'm not the best at comforting people on the spot like that…_ she mused to herself again. _I really hope I made her feel at least a little bit better._

May, on the other hand, looked emotional; her dark eyes were shining like a lake underneath the sunshine. Elena inwardly gasped at her reaction. She couldn't tell what exactly May was feeling right now.

 _Oh my god, did I make it worse?_ Elena was mentally panicking. _She looks like she's about to cry!_

"Are you alright?" Elena asked. She waddled a little closer to the girl, getting ready to embrace her if she was about to break down.

Instead, May smiled. This time, it was a genuine one. "I'm alright. I'm really touched right now. That was the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me in a while." She bowed while kneeling. "Thank you, Elena."

Elena blushed, taken aback by the sudden bow; for some odd reason, she was feeling a little unworthy and uncomfortable of May's bow. She stammered, "H-Hey now… That bow is nice and all. But…" she opened her arms as she admitted, "I would much prefer a hug."

May lifted her chin to see Elena grinning at her. Smiling back, she quickly wobbled over to Elena with returning open arms, her braids trailing along. Together, they sat there, arms wrapped around each other as they shared a heartwarming embrace. Elena felt Xiao-Mei snuggle against her shoulder and neck, and giggled in response.

Elena glanced around the carriage. Judging from the lighting she saw, the sun had completely set; the place was now quite dark. It was still manageable, as it wasn't pitch dark as of yet. A couple of minutes later, however, and it would be completely dark.

" _Ahem!_ " Elena was startled by someone unexpectedly clearing their throat. She and May loosened their hug and glanced to the source of the sound.

Yoki was standing by the entrance of the conveyance, his face set in a slightly muddled expression. In one hand was the Xingese baseball bat. "Um… What's happening here?"

"We just talked…" Elena answered as she felt May slip out of their embrace.

May was now looking at Yoki as she, now in a more bubbly mood, added, "Yup!"

Yoki just stared at the two girls. After a few seconds of silence, he sighed, "Well, whatever. Scar wants us to meet him up outside this area, where he'll be burying the bodies." He glanced at Elena. "You left your bat." He threw the bat on the wagon ground; it rolled over to Elena in a rather sluggish speed. Elena bent down to scoop it up.

"Weren't you going to help him?" May asked.

"Er… Well…" Yoki reluctantly answered, "He then told me that I should just let him take care of the rest, with carrying the bodies outside. He said he'd be more suited for it."

"Was it because you couldn't lift any of those bodies?" Elena asked innocently, as she now held the bat. Deep down, she was taunting him, as she assumed that could be the reason

 _He looks like he could barely carry_ himself _!_ She thought mischievously.

Yoki scowled at Elena. With his jaw clenched, he bitterly responded, "No, that's _not_ the reason."

Without giving Elena or May a chance to respond, Yoki plopped down on the seat rail of the wagon.

 _That probably_ is _the reason…_ Elena thought slyly.

Elena peeped behind Yoki's back to get a good look of outside. Right in front of them was an opening that led to a road through the refugee. Elena figured that Yoki would have to do some maneuvering around the roads to exit the empty refugee.

"Here we go…" Yoki muttered as he gripped the horse reins.

With a whip of the reins, along with a grunt, the horse started to advance towards the opening pathway. The sudden speed and bumps made Elena stumble a bit. But she quickly managed to get accustomed to it. Soon enough, the ride wasn't as jarring; it started to feel a little bit smooth.

"Not bad," Elena commented. "How good are you at riding this?"

Yoki scoffed, "Pretty good, I'd say! Nearly everyone in this country has ridden a horse carriage on their own at least once, especially if they've lived in a city."

"Really?" Elena mused out loud. "That's interesting." Elena then spun around, shifting her attention to the jar of Xingese canned goods.

May must've noticed her scrutinizing the jar, as she chirped, "Oh, Master Yoki! Wu and his clan left back a lot of canned food from Xing! So we don't have to worry much about buying food!"

"Is that so?" Yoki commented, keeping his eyes forward on the road. "Well, hopefully, that'll last us for a while. If _someone here_ doesn't eat about, oh, six cans of our food a day!"

"Oh shut it, Yoki!" Elena scolded. "If anything…" She pulled out the red can of chow mein and smirked, "We should treat ourselves to a meal for the night, if you know what I mean."

"Are you hungry _again?_ " Yoki asked in exasperation. "How many cans of food can you really eat in a day?"

"To be fair, Master Yoki…" May piped in, "We haven't eaten since the afternoon. It's night time right now. It _would_ be a good time to eat."

Elena heard Yoki groan. "Fine. We'll find a place to set a fire and cook it." He glanced at the girls over his left shoulder. "And we're _not_ gonna be cooking for long! We gotta get moving right away! This isn't gonna be a romantic late-night picnic, you hear me?"

"Okay, okay, fine, fine," Elena waved him off, growing easily tired of his constant yapping. "I get it, you guys are in a rush. Just cooking the meal would be fine enough."

Elena turned to May, who was smiling at her. She gave the older girl a wink. Elena winked back and mouthed a "thank you."

The three of them rode off through the refuge in the now-dark night.

* * *

Luckily for the trio, locating Scar wasn't as time-consuming as they'd thought it would be. He was by the edge of the town, finalizing his burials. As soon as they approached him, Yoki asked him about stopping somewhere to quickly rest up and cook some of the Xingese canned food. At the time, May and even him were both evidently starving form the long afternoon. Scar approved to this, to Elena's surprise. She couldn't tell if he was reluctantly agreeing, or if he genuinely didn't mind giving his group some time for themselves. But Elena didn't mind; she was happy enough for being able to eat again. She was even more happy to be able to try some Xingese food; though, she also thought that it would be highly similar to the Chinese food back home.

After riding a good few miles away from the abandoned Ishvalan town, the group looked for a good spot somewhere in the trees to cook without being noticed. While they rode away, May was showing Elena around some other items she found while cleaning up the wagon. She found a boxful of Xingese coins.

"Could you exchange them for Amestrian currency?" Elena asked.

"I don't think so…" May answered, "It would probably take a while since statistically, not a lot of Xingese visits this country. That, and…" she sheepishly sunk as she murmured, "I came here kind of illegally…"

"You _what_?" Elena exclaimed with a high-pitched voice, " _How?_ "

"Well…" May twiddled her fingers, "We just… Avoided the border patrols. I can't let them know I'm a Xingese princess. It'll cause too much attention. I need to be discreet about my mission. Anyways…" she shrugged. "I don't have any kind of permit of proof. So I'm technically an illegal alien here." She apprehensively chuckled.

Elena nervously giggled in response.

 _Geez, May…_ she thought. _Wasn't expecting that from you…_

A sudden realization hit Elena, as she then thought, _Wait… I also don't have any kind of visa or permit… Does that also make me a foreign alien?_

Luckily, no one had noticed Elena's sudden change in mood. Yoki was busy with the horse, Scar was peeping outside behind the shorter man's back, and May promptly went back to sorting out the back of the wagon.

They found various maps of both Amestris and Xing in another box. May separated the Amestris maps and placed them in a reachable jar. The maps would be useful in the future. They also found some cooking utilities - such as some pots, plates, napkins, and spoons - in another box.

"They really didn't leave much…" May muttered as she quickly opened the rest of the jars and boxes lid by lid. "They probably had the same idea of traveling minimally like Xiao-Mei and me…"

"That's surprising, especially since there were a bunch of them together…" Elena piped in. "What's up with that?"

"Most of the Xingese were brought up to be very resourceful, and to make do with their surroundings as much as they could," May answered, "I'm also surprised that Wu went along with that, in the end. His clan is bigger and wealthier than mine, so I didn't think he would worry much about being resourceful."

Elena nodded thoughtfully.

May opened up one last box that was in the back corner. She asked, "Why did they bring scarves?"

"Huh?" Elena moved closer to the girl. She peered behind her and blinked in confusion. "And there's a pair of mittens."

Indeed, there were three scarves and a pair of white mittens. Two of the scarves were chunky knits, while the other scarf was smooth wool, with a beige color.

"You don't think… They stole someone else's wagon?" Elena suggested nervously. "I mean… There aren't any coats or anything else, but scarves and their coins and food. I'm hoping that's not the case."

"They most likely might've, sadly…" May admitted sorrowly, "We don't have wagons that look like these. And I doubt those scarves are Wu's. It might've belonged to the people he stole it from."

Elena frowned. "That's sad. Someone lost their scarves and mittens." She leaned towards the box. "Would you wanna make use of them, though?"

"No, thanks," May refused somewhat gracefully, "I'm fine with what we have. You can take them, though. Same with Master Yoki and Mister Scar."

Elena glanced back at the two men. Yoki was busy grumbling to himself while looking for a place to settle down for a bit. Scar was leaning back on the walls of a wagon, with his arms crossed and his eyes shut. Elena couldn't tell if he was napping, or even praying. She couldn't envision him sleeping at this very early hour in the night. If anything, she imagined herself most likely fall asleep early in the night, right after her meal.

"I doubt they'd want a scarf, for now at least," Elena shrugged. She reached out a hand, grabbing two of the scarves in the box. She yanked them out and placed them on her lap. One of them was a grey chunky knit. It was soft and plushy. Another one was the beige wool one. It was smooth and bright. Both of them felt warm on Elena's lap.

"I think I'll take this beige one for now…" Elena placed the grey knit scar back in the box. She then draped the beige scarf over her neck, letting the ends flow by her knees.

"I think we should keep these other stuff, just in case," Elena said as she fixed up her scarf. She peered down at the box again, eyeing up the white mittens. She scooped up the mittens in her hands and commented, "Those mittens look small."

Elena rotated the mittens in her hands. Sure, her hands were pretty small in general, but the mittens were smaller. She then glanced at May's hands. She smirked in realization as she stated, "I believe these gloves would fit you, May!"

"Really?" May leaned in closer to Elena to look at the mittens. She extended out her hands. Elena complied and handed her the mittens.

"I've never worn mittens before," May piped up as she placed her left hand in a mitten. Elena could've sworn she practically saw stars shining out of May's wide eyes as she exclaimed, "This is so soft and warm!" She hastily put on the second mitten and then clapped her gloved hands together with a playful expression.

Elena giggled at her reaction, one hand covering her mouth.

May heard her giggle. She wondered, "What's so funny?"

Elena chuckled again, "Oh, it's nothing!" She examined May's gloved hands; they suited her dainty hands, as they fitted her perfectly. There was a smudge of dirt on her left glove, which tainted a part of the marshmallow-colored mitten with a dark brown color.

 _It's still pretty bright, though…_ she dreamily thought as she took a closer look at the well-fitted white mittens. Even in the dimmed wagon, it was pretty sheer in color.

May took her hands off of Elena's, and then took the mittens off. She commented, "If I were to wear these in Xing, my hands would practically melt!"

"Is it always hot in Xing?" Elena questioned.

"Well…" May thoughtfully tilted her head, "Not always. But being near deserts, it's at least always warm. The nights would be a little chilly at times." She looked at Xiao-Mei, who was, as always, perched on her shoulder. May offered the tiny panda a mitten and asked, "You want to feel one of these? They're super soft."

Xiao-Mei eagerly nodded with a squeal. She leaped off of May's shoulder, grabbing the mitten in the process. She landed on the ground with the mitten underneath her paws. To Elena, she looked like she was about to go snow sledding. The panda immediately snuggled up on the mitten.

"Are you fashion girly brats done?" Yoki loudly asked, sounding as impatient as ever. Elena turned to him. He was nearly glowering at her and May. Elena then realized that the wagon was at a stop.

"Coming, Master Yoki!" May exclaimed, unfazed by Yoki's disdain.

Yoki then turned away as he slid off the chair of the wagon. Scar was already out, as Elena caught him strolling outside from the opening of the wagon.

May waddled over to the bucket of the canned goods and scooped up two cans. She then went to a different box to pull out a pot, along with some bowls and spoons. Elena gathered up the utensils for her, and was behind the girl as they both leaped out of the wagon. Xiao-Mei followed them.

Elena looked around the area. They were in an area with a good amount of dark trees surrounding them. To her right, blocked by some trees, was the trail they were just on. It was completely nighttime now. Yet, the moon up in the sky was relatively bright, illuminating the area.

The four of them managed to quickly whip up a fireplace. There, they cooked the chow mein and pork chops. To Elena's surprise, both of these meals were extremely flavorable. They both had their share fair of juiciness and weren't as drying as she thought it would be. The chow mein was stuffed with lots of vegetables, yet managed to harmonize well with the noodles. Elena never had that much pork chops before, but the Xingese ones had a good texture compared to the other pork chops she had eaten. Each bite of the Xingese delicacies felt like a taste of joy.

 _Is this what heaven tastes like?_ Elena thought with a hazy smile as she was scooping up nearly all of the leftover chow mein in her bowl. Her cheeks were full of food, puffing up like a chipmunk.

Everyone around her was staring at her. May had a mixed look of delight and pride, along with a little bit of nervousness. Yoki was definitely creeped out, as expected. Elena could've sworn, she heard him mutter, "This girl eats like a starving _pig!_ " Even Scar had stared at her. But he looked quite undaunted; if anything, he had the same tense neutral face that he always bore.

* * *

Once they were done, they quickly wiped away the mess with napkins and scurried back in their wagon. Then, they were off on the road. Elena dumped the cooking utilities and napkins back into the box, while May was setting up a spot for her and Elena to sleep on.

Elena yawned as she placed the last cooking pot in the box. She then placed the wooden lid on top of the box. She turned around, about to check up on May, when she breathed an "Oh" at what she saw.

May had already finished setting up the area, to her shock. She had spread a white sheet on the ground. The edges were torn a bit, but it was still functional, for May at least. Another folded up cloth served as a pillow. May was laying atop of both of them, curling up on her right side. There was a good amount of space to her right; she must have been making room for Elena.

Elena slowly made her way towards the carpet, careful not to hit May or anything else around them. The room in the wagon was quite scarce - between the various boxes and jars, along with three people occupying the space, and the overall tiny room of the wagon. Luckily, Scar had always remained still on one particular side of the wagon, near the entrance to look out. His back leaned against the wall of the wagon, and his right leg was folded up to his chest. Elena noticed that one of his hands were occupied with two tiny brown, round things.

 _Are those some kind of nut? Like chestnuts or almonds?_ She questioned herself, squinting at Scar for a little bit. He didn't notice her, as he was occupied with the view outside.

Elena then shrugged to herself as she turned her attention back to the snoozing May on the carpet. Indeed, May was fast asleep. Xiao-Mei was snuggled up close to her chest, her mouth wide open and revealing her tiny white fangs.

 _Geez, they fell asleep so fast…_ Elena thought. She saw the space left for her and attempted to lay down on it. With a little bit of maneuvering around, she was able to fit her whole body on top of the carpet rather comfortably. She found herself snuggled up in a fetal position similar to May's, as she laid on her left side. Elena smirked to herself; not only was she was able to sleep on her favorite side, but it also increased her chances of dreaming.

She heard the little girl's soft breathing as she slept. She also felt the wagon move underneath her body, with its occasion tiny bumps. Yoki has yet to ruin the ride, making it bumpier. So far, from what Elena could tell, the roads they've traveled on were as smooth as ice.

 _I wonder if I'll be out of this dream when I fall asleep…_ Elena wondered. _I_ did _come here by sleeping on my bed, after all._ She let out a soft sigh. _This has been such a long, chaotic dream. I actually can't wait to wake up sick on my own bed. I would at least be able to lay down and relax the whole day. I'll see what's on Netflix or something..._

She glanced at May and Xiao-Mei, who were both sound asleep.

 _I'm actually gonna miss these two, even if I was with them for only a few hours or so…_ she thought. _Yoki… probably not. Scar, I'm not so sure. Though, maybe not as well. He's not that bad, I guess._

Elena then realized, _Don't be sad! You'll see them again once you start watching Brotherhood! It won't be the end from here!_

Elena heard Yoki sigh, far away from her. He spoke up, "So, the two little girls are coming along with us…"

" _Little girls"?_ Elena thought. _I don't that I'm that… Little enough to be called little._ She internally cringed at her thoughts. _C'mon, Elly! Use some better words!_

After a pause of silence - along with some sounds of crunching and juggling chestnuts from Scar - Yoki continued, "By the way, sir, you still haven't told me your name." He pleaded, "If you won't mind, I would very much like to know it."

A loud _crunch!_ emitted through the whole wagon, followed by Scar's stern yet whispery response, "The Ishvalan people take great pride in their names, as they are sacred gifts from God."

"Well, well, sir," Yoki replied, "Your name must be a special one, indeed!"

Even through her closed eyelids, Elena felt her eyes roll. She thought to herself, _What a suck-up…_

Scar eerily responded, "Therefore, I have renounced my Ishvalan name…"

Elena heard the faintest of sighs from Yoki. He sounded exasperated, and mildly afraid as well.

Scar must've heard it as well, as he suddenly snapped loudly, "Now _go! Keep moving!"_

Elena flinched at Scar's shift of tone, while Yoki straight out gasped. He meekly responded, "Yes, sir!" followed by the sound of the carriage horsewhip.

 _That's the Scar we all know and love…_ Elena thought as the wagon sped up a little.

She heard Scar rasp to himself, "I'm walking down a path of no return. So I will leave behind me every gift I have received from God."

 _That sounds familiar… Didn't he tell me something similar earlier?_ Elena questioned, remembering what he mentioned to her right after the fight. _Something about walking down a road of no return? I guess that's his motto for life or something… Not my place to judge, though!_

Elena snuggled up besides May. She felt a little warmer. Her scarf was helping with the warmth, as well. Though, the weather didn't bother her much throughout the day.

 _Time to wake up and feel like shit again…_ she thought to herself, as she remembered how sick she was before arriving in her dream. She dreaded coming back to her place only because of her fever, stuffy nose, and overall fatigue. Yet, she still looked forward to her own bed, room, and people she adored.

Soon, she fell asleep.

* * *

" _Mmh…"_ Elena groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. Blinding white light greeted her vision. She gulped, a nervous feeling growing within her gut. She remembered the last time she awoke to a place with eye-piercing whiteness.

 _Please don't tell me I'm back at that Truth's place…_ she mentally begged. She felt her heart thump, and she bit her lip. The thought of being back in that white nothingness made her panic a bit.

She laid in silence for a couple of seconds. So far, she didn't hear many sounds. Not even Truth's "voice" of a whole town population had interrupted her moment of peace. Elena shivered at the thought of it, which was just as frightening as the overall experience.

She felt warm, then realizing that something soft was atop of her. It felt familiar. It felt like home.

 _Truth's place felt like a million air conditioners were blasting at me… Am I home?_ She questioned through closed eyelids, her heart pumping. _Am I back in my bed?_

She slowly opened her eyes. Her excitement and anxiety were making the process a little more difficult than it should've been. The first thing she saw was her ceiling fan and light. They were all white, with a splash of yellow from the sunlight that leaked through presumably her window blinds.

Elena sighed in relief. She smiled weakly to herself as she thought, _Oh my gosh, I'm finally home… I can't believe it. That was such a long dream._

She moved her eyes around the room while still laying down. She saw her closet to her left, along with her dark-colored schoolbag leaning on the light rosy-colored walls of her room. Her Pusheen calendar hung above the bag, along with with some of the glow-in-the-dark stars, and a sloppy painting of what was supposed to be a sunset that she made in her art class last year. The window was to the left of her bed, the blinds slightly open, which was letting some sunlight through.

She then glanced to her right. Her vanity and mirror were across where she laid. She was able to see a bit of the reflection of herself from the mirror. The dresser was right next to her bed. On top of it was the glass of water and Mack's alchemy drawing. Elena stared specifically at the drawing.

 _To think that my trippy Fullmetal dream all started from just looking at this drawing…_ she thought. _What should I do with it, then? Do I have to throw it out? Or move it somewhere else?_ She frowned to herself. _I would feel bad, especially since Mack took his time to draw it…_

Elena then tried to reach her right arm out to grasp the drawing. However, she couldn't move her arm. It wasn't budging at all. It was as if it was just stuck on her, like the unmoving arms of a statue. Elena furrowed her eyebrows at her arm, extremely confused and a little afraid.

 _What's going on?_ Elena thought. _Why can't I move my arm? It feels like it's glued down or something._

She then tried her left arm. To her fear, it was also stuck. She couldn't even feel her arm budge a bit. It remained stuck to her side, as she laid on her back within her cat blanket.

 _What the hell is going on?_ She questioned. She then tried to move her legs. They remainder stuck, as well. Not a wiggle was to be felt, as they simply remained flat on the bed. It soon dawned on Elena that she couldn't move her entire body at all. She was practically frozen on her bed.

 _Is this some kind of sleep paralysis? Or am I still in that dream?_ She attempted to move her right arm one last time. It still remained motionless, simply laying there under her covers. However, she felt a sharp pang of pain zip through her right arm. It felt like a bunch of thick needles were suddenly piercing into her skin. Elena cried out as the pain coursed through her whole arm, her eyes clamping shut. She wondered where her brother and parents are, if they even heard her scream. She never felt so desperately in need for them until now.

As she closed her eyes through the discomfort, she heard a clamorous crackling sound. It blared like the booming thunder after a lightning strike in a thunderstorm. The sound grew louder and louder, as if the sound was multiplying. The increasingly blaring sound startled Elena. It sounded like it was originating from her right side. As a result, it felt like her ears were about to pop.

Elena hesitantly opened her eyes, averting her gaze to the side of the sound. She was immediately greeted with stinging pain from her eyes, as something bright red had unexpectedly blinded her. She now saw splashes of crimson red as her vision was blurred. The crackling sounds persisted.

When her vision came back, she was able to see exactly what was in front of her. However, her heart palpitated at what she saw. It was something as eerily familiar as Truth.

She was witnessing red lighting sparking out of Mack's transmutation circle. It was similar to before her dream when it was just glowing red. But now, it was violently igniting red lightning. The flashes of lightning were streaking upwards, towards the ceiling. Elena was able to feel a strong pressure it was emitting; violent winds were practically beating up and scraping her face.

"H-How am I still able to stay on!?" Elena managed to ask through the lightning and winds.

Then, one of the scarlet-colored lightning strikes Elena's right, aching arm. Elena felt a stinging pain as the lightning clashed at her arm. As she let out a howl of pain, her arm started to glow red.

"Shit…" Elena cursed in a panicked tone. "What's happening to me?"

 _Am I even awake?_ She thought as she ran out to strength to even whisper to herself.

Suddenly, her whole body started to glow red, akin to how the drawing did. Elena's body grew numb, as she was still not able to move it. She was stuck on her bed.

 _Crap! I can't move or even do anything, and I don't know what is going on with me!_ Elena internally screamed. She could've sworn, she felt her eyes watering up from the stress of the situation.

Her vision started to grow shaky and hazy. All she saw were the bright scarlet colors of the lightning. The crackling sounds continued to boom loudly, only that it sounded like it was now echoing all around her. That, along with Elena's palpitating heartbeat, was making her headache and swing. Everything was _so chaotic._ It felt like hell to her. Elena was wheezing in deep, ragged breaths.

Soon, everything died off, and there was nothing but pitch darkness.

* * *

"...lly! Elly!" A high-pitched young girl's voice shouted. Elena felted two tiny hands grab her shoulders rather tightly. She was then being shaken quite rigorously as the voice persisted, " _Elly!_ Wake up! We're almost at a town!"

 _That voice…_ Elena thought as she was unexpectedly throttled like a doll for a few seconds. It had a rather squeaky, high-pitched tone to it, with a bounce of youth and playfulness. It definitely sounded like a little girl's voice. Immediately, Elena was able to recognize the voice, as she thought to herself, _I know that person… But wait…_

She placed her right hand on top of the other person's hand; it felt somewhat soft and small underneath her own hand. She heard the person gasped softly as she sluggishly opened her eyes.

"Urgh…" Elena groaned. Her mouth then opened up into a wide circle as she saw who was shaking her awake. She found herself staring into those all-too-familiar large, dark yet gleaming eyes.

It was May. The younger girl had her typical smile painted across her face. Xiao-Mei was perched atop of her head, practically staring down at Elena.

"Wha…?" Elena gapped, placing one hand on her head as she continued to lay down. She found herself speechless, and at a loss on what to say or how to react aloud. Yet, she found herself jumbling with confused thoughts. The most prominent thoughts echoed the loudest in her head:

 _What the hell is going on!? Why am I still here?_

* * *

 **A/N: And that wraps up this chapter! If you spot any mistakes, or have any suggestions, please lemme know. I would love to read up on how to improve this story, and myself as a writer c:**

 **The next chapter will come out soon! I'm looking forward for these next couple chapters in particular. Hint hint: It involves learning about cultures hehe, I've been really getting into that lately uwu**

 **If you've made it all the way here, thank you so much! I hope you've enjoyed this chapter! I also hope you hydrated yourself while reading it, esp since this chapter is pretty lengthy hehe**


End file.
